


Happy

by queenssaviour



Series: Season 3 fix-its [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fluff, Humor, Romantic Comedy, Smut, Swan Mills Charming Family, Swan-Mills Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2015-08-10
Packaged: 2018-02-18 10:54:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 31,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2345879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenssaviour/pseuds/queenssaviour
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post season 3 finale. This was supposed to be an angsty one-shot, but it somehow became a romantic comedy where everyone ships Swan Queen and Henry has been watching The Parent Trap too much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I needed to write. Many thanks to Jess for fixing some silly mistakes during the first chapters! x
> 
> This is my first fic ever, so... be nice?

Emma knocked on the door of 108 Mifflin Street for the third time that night. She had come to the mansion more than once during the past two weeks to apologize to Regina and to see if the woman was ready to talk, which she evidently wasn't. Regina had chosen to ignore her attempts completely, saying nothing more than, "Go away, Miss Swan."

This was why Emma's eyes widened when the door actually opened and she found herself face to face with the former Queen. Regina didn't look like her usual self when opening the door. The normally well put together Mayor seemed to be wearing nothing but socks and a t-shirt that was too big for her. Her hair wasn't done and the expression on her makeupless face was annoyed.

"What do you think you're doing?" Regina asked her, and Emma felt incredibly dumbstruck. "I know you don't care much for the rules a Sheriff should comply, but you must know that banging on someone's door in the middle of the night when there's no real reason for it isn't exactly..." She slurred the last two words, and Emma's gaze fell from Regina's face to the hand which wasn't keeping the door open but holding a glass of alcohol.

"Are you drunk?" Emma asked. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Well, you certainly do take after your parents, Miss Swan. Yes, as you may have noticed, I may be in a slightly inebriated state, and I would very much prefer to enjoy this evening without your questions." Regina avoided looking Emma in the eye and shifted. Emma sighed.

"Regina… Look, please, hear me out, okay?" She stopped talking, expecting Regina to interrupt her, but instead the brunette turned to face Emma.

"Well?" Regina said impatiently. "If you think I've got all night to wait for whatever it is you have to say, you're wrong." She made a small pause. "I'm not having a cold on top of everything else, so you might as well come in, so I can close the door."

Emma took a deep breath and entered the mansion as Regina closed the door behind her and looked at the nearly empty glass in her hand. "I'm going to need something stronger for this."

Emma seemed to have frozen for a moment, and soon Regina was walking, with not as much grace as usually, towards her study. After a few seconds, Emma snapped out of it and followed Regina to the room where she found the former Queen pouring herself a new drink.

Regina sat on the couch, and Emma was suddenly reminded of the first time they had talked in this room. They had come so far, and then she had ruined it. Emma twitched her hands and didn't know what to do with them.

"Regina… I don't know where to start. But I need you to know that I'm sorry…" The worst part was that she couldn't say she was sincerely sorry for everything. She took another breath. "I am so sorry I've caused you this kind of unhappiness. You have changed, and you deserve to be happy, and I made everyone's lives more difficult by bringing Marian back here… But I just couldn't leave her there, so I'm not going to be sorry for that, sorry for saving her life." She couldn't look Regina in the eye anymore, so she was just looking at her hands. "That just wasn't right. But I'm so sorry for making you feel this way. I'm sorry I broke your trust, and I really want to help make it up to you just any way I can. I just want to see you happy again and for Henry to be able to be here with you. He misses his mom. And I know you miss him, too." Emma raised her gaze, uncertain what she would find.

Regina seemed to have frozen. She was holding the (yet again empty) glass and staring at Emma.

"Um, Regina?" Emma asked carefully.

Regina put the glass down on the table in front of her. She put her head in her hands and sighed. Emma was still awkwardly standing in the middle of the room.

After what must've felt like hours for Emma, Regina lowered her hands and spoke. "You think I feel bad that you saved a woman's life, kept someone from dying in the name of my vengeance? You… you think that I'm not happy that Roland got his mother back?" Regina seemed to struggle to get the next words out and lay on the couch, letting out a frustrated sigh. When she continued, her voice was barely audible. "I just wished that I could've been happy again, too."

Emma could almost hear her own heart breaking, watching Regina there so hopeless and vulnerable. She moved towards the couch, giving the brunette a chance to tell her off if she so wished, but when Regina said nothing, she sat next to her.

"The fact that you can think like that shows how much you've grown and how much you deserve to be happy…" Emma started, but she was cut short.

"But I don't! Haven't you been paying attention and seen what I've done? They all call me the Evil Queen, and who can blame them? I cursed them all, and thought of no one but myself. I deserve this. You bringing Marian back reminded me of all the things I did. I… I…" Emma looked at Regina. Frustrated tears were streaming down the woman's face, and Emma was at a loss of words.

Regina stopped crying for a moment. "I don't deserve a happy ending, and I know that. I took theirs away. I don't deserve Henry."

That made Emma react. "Regina! Are you hearing yourself right now? You have been a wonderful mother to Henry all these years. He loves you. He couldn't have had better. I really did give him his best chance when he ended up being raised by you. Remember what you said before? In Neverland? All of it is worth it because of Henry." The sobs stopped, and Regina rose to sit, but Emma continued. "And as for taking people's happy endings away, I know everything can't be fixed, but you gave me all those happy memories, years with Henry I could've never otherwise had."

Regina was about to say something, but Emma beat her to it again because she wasn't finished yet. "And don't say that it's all your fault I didn't have a happy life with him in the first place. We both know it's much more complicated than that." Emma took Regina's hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze. The brunette seemed to have something to say, but her lower lip was quivering, and Emma thought Regina would probably start crying again if either of them tried to say anything then.

That's why Emma did the next best thing she could think of and put one of her arms over Regina. Regina hesitated for a short moment and rested her head on Emma's shoulder. The former Mayor let out a sigh much calmer than the previous ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this is the first time I write anything fictional in a decade and the first time I write anything fictional in English ever, so if you have any kind of constructive criticism, or anything to say really, it would be much appreciated (seriously). (English isn't my native language, or my beta's, so really, do tell me, please.)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, sorry this took so long! I've decided to continue this story, and I think I've kind of decided where I want to go with this.
> 
> Oh, yeah, and I don't own OUAT, unfortunately, this is all fan-made etc. 
> 
> Many thanks to my beta, Jess x

Regina woke up with a throbbing headache and refused to open her eyes. She thought back to the previous night and remembered Emma showing up on her doorstep and them having a heartfelt conversation. Before having time to feel regretful, relieved, or anything in between, Regina's mind became occupied with something else. She realized she had fallen asleep on the couch in her study. That, however, was not the thing that was unusual about this morning. The unusual thing was the arm around her waist.

Regina opened her eyes slowly. She did not want to deal with anything related to last night before getting a shower and a cup of coffee first. She turned her head and saw Emma sleeping next to her, completely unaware of the fact that Regina had woken up. Regina let out a frustrated groan and closed her eyes again. Emma had not wanted to leave Regina all alone the previous night when she had been so distraught, so they had stayed there silent for a while, Regina's head on Emma's shoulder. After some time, Emma had broken the silence and asked Regina if she wanted to know more about Henry's time in New York, and Regina guessed they had both fallen asleep at some point, Emma talking and Regina listening to every detail. She couldn't recall cuddles of any sort, but that didn't take away the fact that Emma's arm was still around her, and now the blonde tightened her hold while mumbling something in her sleep.

Regina had to make an end to this before she would actually start enjoying herself next to the blonde. She couldn't let herself start having feelings for the Sheriff again, especially now that they seemed to have a clean slate in their friendship. That would make everything far more difficult for her, not to mention that Emma was probably still together with the pirate. Regina rolled her eyes in disgust and got up, waking up the woman next to her in the process.

Emma's eyes shot open, and she seemed to have momentarily forgotten where she was. Her eyes scanned the room quickly and fixated on Regina who was now standing next to the couch, ready to go and take a shower.

"Seriously?" left Emma's lips before the blonde seemed to even acknowledge how they had ended up sleeping the previous night. Emma's expression was a mixture of confused and annoyed, and even though Regina could have come up with a dozen reasons why she should have just kicked the blonde out and tell her to never mention the past 10 hours or so again, she just couldn't bring herself to do it. That wasn't who she wanted to be anymore, and Emma hardly deserved that anyway after the previous night. And she really wanted to try to be friends again.

So, instead of telling Emma off, she just shook her head, tempted to smile at the blonde who now seemed to be lost in thought, probably going through the events of the previous night herself. Regina walked to the door of the study, and turned around.

"Emma," Regina said and brought the other woman back from her thoughts. "Would you be a dear and make some coffee while I'm in the shower?"

Emma's confused expression turned into a grin.

"What?" Regina said a little louder than she had originally planned. She hadn't said anything amusing.

"You called me Emma again and not Miss Swan." Emma kept smiling. Then she managed to turn her expression into something neutral. "And yeah, totally. You go take a shower, and I'll have coffee waiting for you."

* * *

 

Regina got out of the shower and decided against dressing up before breakfast. She reasoned with herself that things could hardly get more embarrassing than last night, and there was no point trying to seem like a composed mayor in front of Emma because all she really wanted was her cup of coffee and something to eat. So, after one more look in the mirror and tightening her bathrobe, she left her bedroom and descended the stairs to the kitchen where she found Emma making eggs.

Emma's gaze shot up when she heard her steps. The woman smiled and turned to get a cup of coffee from the counter.

"Coffee, black, two sugars," Emma said as she got closer to Regina and gave her the cup. Regina was surprised Emma remembered how she liked her coffee and accepted the cup with a smile and a slight nod.

"Thank you." Regina took a sip of her coffee. It was just how she liked it.

"Oh, and I'm making some breakfast too. I'd say I don't really cook much, but somehow ever since New York I've managed not to set the kitchen on fire and make decent food for Henry, which is something I should probably thank you for. You seemed to give me the ability to feed our son with home-cooked meals on top of everything else." Emma smiled again, and Regina took another sip of her coffee before answering.

"Well, I couldn't have you feed him cereal all the time, could I?" Regina reasoned and smiled back. She coughed and was quick to change the subject. She would not be smiling at Emma Swan like the two idiots smiled at each other, especially when the blonde did not seem to reciprocate her feelings.

"So, I assume you're still together with Hook?" Regina said. It was more a question than an assumption, to which Regina really hoped to get a negative answer. She didn't really know if she wanted to talk about this, but it seemed like a new subject that their conversation last night hadn't covered.

"Hook?" Emma furrowed her brow. She didn't seem to want to look at Regina directly anymore and turned her face towards the eggs she was still making. "No, no we're not together. Actually, we were never really a couple, you know. I mean, we kissed..." Emma sighed and Regina studied the blonde's face, trying to avoid the mental images Emma's words were starting to create in her mind. "But I just… You know how he's like. There's the way he chases me around when I've told him not to. At first you might think it's cute, but actually, looking back to that, it's really not. And I found out that he actually rather saved his ship than made sure that Ariel find Eric, who, by the way, would surely die. And then he has the guts to feel good about himself because he gave his ship up for me later." There was a small break, and for a moment Regina thought Emma had finished, but then the woman continued.

"Like sure, congratulations for doing that in order to get into my pants. He expects to be rewarded for something like that. I mean you gave Henry and I new memories and a great life thinking about nothing but our happiness, and I don't see you going all 'Emma, please kiss me. I did a good thing, and I need my reward now.'"

Regina almost chocked on her coffee. Emma raised her gaze from the eggs, saw her coughing, and that's when she seemed to realize what she had just said. Emma blushed slightly, looking at her reaction.

"You okay?" Emma asked.

Regina finally managed to stop coughing and answered with a nod.

"Sorry, just forget I said that. But yeah, short version: I'm not with Hook." Emma smiled and handed her the eggs.

* * *

 

Regina Mills was in a very emotional state. She and Emma had agreed that Henry come back home that evening. After their conversation and Emma's words of wisdom the previous night, Regina seemed to have enough confidence in herself again, and she wanted to welcome her son back home as soon as possible. She had the dinner almost ready downstairs, and she couldn't wait for the moment to hug her son.

In addition to seeing her son again after a few weeks of completely running away from her responsibilities, there was another thing that made her nervous, and that thing was Emma Swan. She couldn't believe she had actually let herself start having these feelings again, but the conversation and the faith the woman had in her made her feel better and made her want to be good. Not to mention that, if she really admitted it to herself, she had liked waking up in Emma's arms.

Or the comment Emma had made in the kitchen. Regina didn't know what to make of any of that, and she just shook her head as she finally chose her clothes for the dinner that both her son and his other mother would be attending.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the title of the fic because I wanted it to be simpler. (Plus the earlier title would've been better for a one shot.)
> 
> Thanks to Jess again x

Regina was in the kitchen when she heard a knock on the door. She felt both happy and nervous as she walked towards the main entrance of the mansion.

Emma and Henry were behind the door. Emma smiled at Regina encouragingly, and Henry seemed to be conflicted what kind of emotion he wanted to express at that point, but after a short moment he smiled too and hugged Regina.

"Hi, Mom," Henry said as he was still hugging her. Regina was afraid that her voice would crack and she would cry if she spoke then, but she tried anyway.

"Welcome home, Henry," she said and they let go of each other, Regina looking at Henry now. "I missed you."

"Emma told me that I could move back home if I wanted to… You want me to move back here, right?" he asked with wide eyes.

Regina looked at Henry, her little prince, who was now so tall she didn't have to look down anymore to face him. "Henry, of course I do… I… I haven't been the mother you deserve, and I am so sorry for that. I… I want you to know that you're truly the most important thing in my life, and the only man I ever need to make me happy." Regina brushed away a tear.

Despite being a teen now, Henry hugged Regina again, and she could feel herself getting really close to crying. Henry let her go eventually and said he would take his bag upstairs.

"You okay?" Emma finally asked when Regina looked at her. She had been standing by the door without saying anything.

"Yes, I'm fine," she responded. "It's overwhelming, and I'm just… I'm just embarrassed. And happy, of course, because he's moving back in. But I'm also disappointed in myself." Regina let out an unamused laugh. "More than usual. Henry is what's important here, and I must've made him feel terrible when I avoided my responsibilities after the break up. After he finally remembered me."

Regina shook her head, and the blonde moved closer. Emma put her hand on hers, and she stopped shaking her head as she looked at the woman in front of her again.

"Hey, it's okay. You'll do better now. I know it." Emma said. "You didn't do anything irreversible. He's back home, and we… I mean you," the woman stumbled on her words. "You can be a family again, and we can both be the best moms we can to him."

She looked at Emma and was about to answer when Henry came back and they shifted away from each other. Henry looked at them quizzically for a moment, but didn't comment on the scene. Regina decided not to think more of it right at that second; he had seen his mothers getting along before, too, after all.

"So, are we gonna eat soon?" he asked, and Regina couldn't keep a smile from forming on her lips.

* * *

Henry talked about everything Regina had missed during the last few weeks. He talked about school and told Regina that the History of the Enchanted Forest, a new subject that had been added to their curriculum shortly after the curse broke, was the most interesting subject they had now. That led to an awkward pause because Regina and Emma both knew how much Henry wanted to see the Enchanted Forest, a place which neither of the two women wanted to particularly live in. Regina changed the subject to baby Neal and asked Henry how he liked spending time with him.

"He's great. Yesterday I tried reading to him, but I know he's too young for that sort of thing. It's gonna be really cool when he's a little older so he can talk and stuff." Henry took another bite of his lasagna. "It was nice staying at grandma and grandpa's, but it was really crowded with little uncle there too. Emma said that she'd look for her own place soon."

Regina turned her head to Emma's direction and raised an eyebrow. It wasn't that she hadn't been expecting Emma to move out, but the woman just hadn't mentioned anything to her. Although, she then admitted to herself, they hadn't been talking about Emma's living arrangements for a while, and it wasn't surprising that Emma needed some space of her own.

Emma smiled timidly. "Yeah, I mean, I've been thinking about it for a while now. I can't really live with my parents and their baby when I'm 30, and the apartment isn't exactly ideal for four or five people. I'd just be in the way." She uttered the last sentence more silently and avoided Regina's gaze.

Regina felt a sudden urge to stand up and go to Emma, hold her and tell her she would never be in the way, but the situation wasn't right, and she wasn't sure what she should have said anyway. She just furrowed her brow and studied the blonde for a while.

"Well, if you want help with looking for apartments, just let me know," she finally said.

Emma looked back at her and smiled. "Thanks."

Henry seemed to have forgotten about the little food that was still left on his plate. His gaze went from her to Emma, the same puzzled expression on his face again. Regina realized they were staring at each other idiotically, like in the morning. She broke the eye contact and turned to Henry.

"So, how have your classmates been, Henry?" Regina asked.

* * *

They had dessert, and Henry told Regina that Nicholas and Ava would be having a birthday party with a movie marathon and a sleepover that Friday. Regina was happy Henry had made some friends. After finishing his portion, Regina let Henry go play his video games while she cleaned the kitchen with Emma.

Regina turned on the dishwasher and turned to face Emma who was putting some leftovers in the fridge. She cleared her throat, and the blonde turned around. She hadn't really planned to say anything, but after that night she hadn't been able to, most uncharacteristically, she might've added, keep her thoughts to herself anymore. She felt too comfortable with speaking her mind to Emma, and Emma being Emma seemed to be eager to listen without judging.

"Thank you." Regina said. Emma looked around her in the kitchen and walked closer to Regina.

"Oh, sure, no problem, always happy to help. Thank you for having me over, really."

"I meant for before. For listening to me. And thank you for bringing Henry back here. He's my happiness. It's obvious. I shouldn't have gotten that much carried away with all the pixie dust and soulmates." Regina smiled and looked at Emma.

"Well, I was blinded by the good looks of a man whose personal hygiene is really questionable, so I can't really blame you," Emma laughed. The blonde smiled, and without seeming to think too much, took Regina's hand in hers.

Regina didn't know how to react, so she just stayed there, looking at Emma, who was still smiling. The woman gave her hand a light squeeze and let it go.

"Good night, Regina." Emma smiled as she turned around to leave and say good night to Henry. Regina stayed silent for a few seconds, but her mouth seemed to have a mind of its own again, and before she could stop it, she was talking.

"Emma," she said, causing Emma to turn around. "Your parents love you. You could never be in the way."

Emma didn't seem to know how to respond to that, so she just gave Regina a small smile.

"Thanks, Regina."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so glad I wrote the beginning before I saw 'White Out' haha. I was able to write my idea of Regina and Henry seeing each other again before finding out how the show actually went through with it (I loved that scene btw).
> 
> *Someone came up with "little uncle" before I did, I'm pretty sure. Tell me if you want credit.
> 
> Oh, and sorry for the delay. Uni has been crazy!
> 
> Kudos/reviews/constructive criticism make my day :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is kind of short and more from Henry and Ruby's point of view, but I hope you like it!
> 
> Thanks to Jess who kept Emma from "talking a piece of cake" x

**Hi Ma. Do you wanna go to Granny's with us?**

**_Yes, I would like that kid. Did you ask your mom already?_ **

**Yeah I asked her and she told me to ask you if you wanna come**

Henry Mills was sitting in a booth at Granny's. He was there with his mom, waiting for his other mother to join them. It made him so happy that the two seemed to be… friends now and that he could spend time with both of them. That's why he had asked his mom if Emma could eat with them that day.

After he had made Emma sure that it was okay for her to come, Emma had agreed to join the two of them for dinner again. Henry saw his birth mother open the door of Granny's, and he and his mom greeted her. Henry noticed that his brunette mom's smile widened a bit when the blonde one entered the diner. Emma walked to them and was quickly followed by Ruby who handed her the menu.

The three of them ordered some food and Henry was overjoyed because his moms kept getting along so well. A few times he felt like he had really missed something important because they kept joking in a way they never had before, and… wait. Was his mom _blushing_?

They were halfway through dessert when he decided to do an experiment and asked his mom if he could go to the bathroom. On the way there, he ran into Ruby.

"Hi, Henry. Everything alright?" the waitress asked as she tried to keep a pile of plates from falling down.

"Yeah, all good, just going to the bathroom," Henry answered. He couldn't get a certain thought out of his head.

* * *

Ruby furrowed her brow as Henry left. She turned around to look at the former Queen and the Sheriff who were still talking in the booth, took a rag as an excuse to move around the restaurant, and made use of her wolf hearing.

"Come on, taste it!" Emma said as Regina shook her head and laughed. "Come on!"

Emma was holding a spoonful of ice cream in front of Regina. Regina rolled her eyes.

"Fine," she said finally, opened her mouth and brought her face closer to the spoon hovering in front of her.

Ruby couldn't believe her eyes. She had never seen the Queen like this. But there she was, licking the spoon Emma was holding. Wait, _licking?_

Ruby wasn't sure why she was so surprised in the first place. She had seen Emma obsess over Regina ever since she first came to Storybrooke, and Ruby could've sworn the obsession had gone both ways. But to see those two actually, well, flirting (that was probably the correct term for what was happening right in front of her), was another thing.

And now Emma was taking a piece of Regina's cake from her plate, and the brunette seemed to completely allow it and just kept smiling at Emma. Emma put the piece in her mouth and gave Regina a smug grin. The other woman laughed and shook her head.

Ruby moved to another table closer to the kitchen and saw Henry coming out of the bathroom, looking at his mothers. Ruby sighed. The situation must have been confusing for Henry. One day his mothers weren't talking, and the next they were playing romantic comedy right in front of him.

She moved behind the counter again, and instead of going back to his table, Henry sat on one of the stools. Ruby could feel he was going to ask something, and not too many seconds later, the boy opened his mouth.

"My moms act like grandma and grandpa," Henry said pensively.

Ruby couldn't hold back a laugh. "Don't let Regina hear that. I don't think your mom would like to be compared to Snow and David."

Henry's expression changed from thoughtful to surprised. "So wait, you think so too?" he exclaimed.

Ruby wasn't sure what was the appropriate thing to say to Henry. After a short quiet moment she decided to be as honest as she could with the kid.

"Yeah, it kinda looks like it, Henry."

Henry turned his head to see over his shoulder, and Ruby turned her gaze to the booth as well. Regina was smiling in a way one couldn't see all that often.

"Do you think my moms could be true loves?" Henry asked. Ruby stopped moving the plates and pondered her next answer.

"I'm not sure if I'd go that far, Henry. This world is different and true love doesn't exactly grow on trees."

"But you don't think it's impossible?" Henry asked, excitement now clear on his face. Ruby broke their eye contact and turned her gaze back to the booth where Regina was listening to Emma with a smile on her face.

"I don't see why it would be impossible," she said.

"That would be perfect," Henry said, a grin breaking over his lips. Ruby smiled back at him and hoped she wasn't wrong. "Emma is the Savior, and the Queen should be saved by her as well! They completely balance each other out, Ruby! It could be from the book! It makes perfect sense."

"It would seem to…" Ruby tried to choose the next words carefully. She tried to be responsible and not give the boy too much hope, just in case things wouldn't work out. "Don't get too excited, though. True Love is rare and we don't know anything for certain. Let your moms figure it out themselves."

Henry sighed. "Yeah, okay. Thanks, Ruby!" he said and hopped off the barstool. Ruby shook her head as she watched Henry walk back to the booth. Despite the possible thunderous reaction that could be expected from more than a few townspeople, she hoped he was right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have any comments, feel free to share :) Thanks to everyone who gave me kudos last time, you made my day! :)
> 
> (Ps. the commas in the beginning are missing on purpose because I don't think they'd actually use them when texting, so... :D)
> 
> More Emma and Regina in the next chapter, I think!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I got inspired by that one Tumblr textpost.... "does anyone else feel like Emma and Regina should really split a bottle of wine and look through the baby pictures of Henry that Regina probably has in a shoe box somewhere??" by regina-winchester... and then I got carried away.
> 
> Many thanks to Jess again x
> 
> (ps. sorry this is so late. I was in Ireland... :D)

It was Wednesday, and Emma had finished her patrol for the evening. She had talked to Regina about her plans for the apartment hunt earlier, and the brunette had invited her to come over to look at some options which she could go show her later. That was by no means the (not-yet-reelected) Mayor's job, but Regina had seemed eager to help.

Emma knocked on the door and was soon faced with the brunette. Regina invited her in and the two women made their way to the study.

"Would you like some wine?" Regina asked. She scrunched her face and tilted her head. "Just a glass or two. I think I shouldn't repeat what happened before."

Emma laughed. She was so happy Regina was back to normal. Or more like a more carefree and open version of herself. _Who always smiled at Emma and invited her to spend time with her and Henry and made her feel like she was wanted_ … Emma realized she was still smiling and hadn't answered anything. She quickly cleared her throat. "Yeah, sure, I'd love a glass, thanks."

Regina turned around, opened a bottle, and poured both of them a glass of red wine. She sat next to Emma and handed her the glass.

"Thanks. So, what kind of apartments do you have to offer?" Emma asked, trying to sound as casual as possible, and sipped her wine. Regina took a folder from the coffee table and started showing Emma what she had thought was suitable for her. Emma was pleased to see that her options were really thought through: not too far away from either the Sheriff's station or the mansion. Not that she had really expected anything else; it was Regina she was talking about. Emma asserted that she rather live in some of the nearest apartments to the mansion, so it'd be easy for Henry to come over for weekends. Regina agreed, and they made a plan to go see a couple of apartments the following Saturday before Emma's shift.

"Thanks, Regina. I really appreciate all the trouble you went through," Emma said after emptying her glass.

"Oh, that was nothing, dear. I know the town better than you do," Regina responded as she flashed her a small smile. The brunette looked at Emma's glass. "Would you like another glass?"

"Yes, please," Emma answered.

Regina took the bottle from the coffee table and filled both their glasses. She got up and walked to her desk with the folder. Regina opened one of drawers and placed the folder there, but didn't come back, lost in thought. She seemed to be holding some sort of book and raised her head to see Emma.

"Would you like to see Henry's childhood photos?" Regina asked.

"Of course," Emma answered and couldn't help a smile breaking over her face.

That's how they sat there for at least half an hour, looking at the pictures and emptying the rest of the wine bottle. Regina told her the stories behind the pictures, and Emma listened to every word. After a while, however, Emma put her glass on the table and turned to face Regina with a serious expression.

"You gave me your memories, didn't you?" she asked. Regina stayed silent. "I mean, not all of them, of course. They had to fit our life in New York. But you still did. How I couldn't keep Henry from crying in the beginning, how bad his chicken pox was when he was five, and how I felt desperate because I couldn't make him feel better. That was all you."

There was a small pause, but then Regina cleared her throat.

"Well, that was the least I could do. You didn't get to bring him up. Those memories were the closest thing to actually raising him I could give to you." Regina shook her head and it seemed to Emma that the former Queen had said more than she had originally planned. "Besides, it was easier to just give you my memories than make up some out of thin air and–"

She didn't find out what other reasons Regina had had for giving her the memories, because before Regina could stop, Emma had flung herself at the brunette and kissed her. It was chaste and definitely not what Emma had planned, but it felt so right to have Regina's lips against hers. Then she realized that the woman in front of her was not responding to her kiss, which led to Emma pulling back fast and looking away.

"Ahem... Sorry, I don't know what came over me. I should probably go..." Suddenly, Emma felt Regina's hand on her arm, and she finally dared to look Regina in the eye. She was expecting Regina to be furious or maybe even contemptuous, but she was just smirking at her instead.

"I didn't ask you to stop," Regina said.

That's all it took, really. Emma grinned. She brought her hand to Regina's neck and closed the distance between them. This time, Regina responded to her kiss. As Emma's hands tangled in the brunette's hair, Regina threw her leg over her. Emma couldn't stop smiling as she ran her hands down the the other woman's back, so Regina broke the kiss and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Emma said, knowing she didn't seem even remotely sorry, flashing a 100 Gigawatt smile at the woman on her lap. "I've just wanted to do that for some time now."

"Oh, really?" Regina responded. "Since when, exactly?"

"Hey, that's not fair!" Emma pouted, but Regina just tilted her head expectantly, waiting for an answer. "Fine. When you showed up at Granny's that one morning with the apples. Just for a second, though," she smirked.

Regina's lips curled up into a smile. "I see." The woman brought her face closer to Emma's, but Emma brought two fingers to Regina's lips because she hadn't finished talking yet.

"Hey, your turn now," she said, moving her hand back to Regina's waist.

Regina rolled her eyes. "Well, possibly when you maimed my tree. I wanted to show you what I was capable of." She let out a small laugh and then got more serious. "But when I first really felt I couldn't _not_ kiss you was when we said goodbye and I had to send you away."

Emma brought their lips together again, and after a few pecks, she traced Regina's jaw with her lips, kissing her way down the brunette's neck. She suppressed a smile when she heard Regina moan quietly at her touch. Emma moved to kiss her collarbone, and her hands went from Regina's sides to cup her ass.

After some more kissing of Regina's neck, the brunette's hips bucked against Emma's stomach. As much as she wanted to take what they'd started further, Emma pulled back to face Regina. The brunette showed her reluctance by letting out an impatient groan and opened her eyes.

"What?" Regina huffed.

Emma straightened a strand of Regina's hair and cleared her throat.

"I'll take you on a date first," she said. She wanted to give Regina more than some spontaneous fucking in the brunette's study after a few glasses of wine.

Regina narrowed her eyes. "You don't have to do that."

"But I want to," Emma said. "You mean a lot to me."

Regina just looked at her. Then, she shifted from Emma's lap, sitting next to her. She smiled. "Okay."

Regina placed a kiss on Emma's lips as she got up. Emma couldn't sense anything was wrong or that Regina's reaction had been ingenuine, so she followed the woman to the door of the study, feeling confident about the choice she had made.

"Good night, Emma," Regina said, making her way out of the study, towards the staircase.

"Good night, Regina."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been giffing too many hours today (no regrets) because I actually enjoyed the last episode of OUAT a lot. (I hope you all did as well!) Here's the next chapter!
> 
> Thanks to Jess again!

Emma woke up to her little brother's crying. _She would have to get a place of her own_.

Then she realized that she would get a place of her own and that she would be seeing some of the potential apartments on Saturday. With Regina.

Had she actually kissed Regina the previous night?

Emma eventually came to the conclusion that she had, but that didn't help her much because suddenly she wasn't sure if Regina would still want to go out with her. Or really do anything, for that matter. What if she had pushed everything too far? The wine hadn't helped her to act discreetly.

Regina had seemed to reciprocate, though, so Emma made up her mind and texted her.

**_Still wanna go on that date?_ **

Emma stared at her phone. After what felt like twenty minutes instead of one, she got a reply.

_Yes, but I'm not having the town idiots ogling at us, so I suggest you come here and we have dinner._

**_I'm paying though. This Friday okay? Henry will be at that birthday party._ **

_It seems that you have it all planned out. I'll call or see you later to discuss details._

Discuss details? Emma didn't know what that would include, exactly, but she was over the moon anyway. Regina liked her back, and they would be having dinner together on Friday.

* * *

"Good morning," Snow chirped as Emma walked into the kitchen. Her mother was holding baby Neal and reading the paper.

"Morning," Emma said and couldn't stop smiling. As she strode to the fridge to get milk for her cereal, she noticed Snow was looking at her with a perplexed face.

"What's gotten into you?" her mother asked.

Emma tried to put on a neutral expression and concentrate on her cereal. "Oh, nothing much," she answered. She would not be having the conversation about Regina and her right now.

"Okay," Snow said, obviously not convinced about her honesty. All the same, she started talking about Neal's sleeping routine and how exhausting it was to be the Mayor. "In fact, I was wondering if you could ask Regina whether or not she'd be interested in being Mayor again. You see her all the time now."

Emma tried to keep her expression blank and nodded. "Yeah, sure, I'll ask her." Emma was happy. Regina would be getting her life back, even her position as the Mayor. "So you really don't want the job?"

"Oh, no. Regina is the Mayor of this town, I think we can agree on that," Snow swung the hand that wasn't holding Neal and smiled.

After finishing her breakfast, Emma was about to leave to the station.

"Oh, Henry's coming here for the weekend, right? We need to make dinner for one more on Friday."

"Um, actually he's going to Ava and Nick's birthday party. They're doing a movie marathon thing." Emma scratched her head. She should've probably mentioned –

"Oh, well then it's just us on Friday, and we'll all have lunch on Saturday."

"Yeah, about that…" Emma started and wondered if she was ready to open the can of worms she was about to. She wasn't sure how Snow would react. "I've got plans for Friday. And Regina's gonna show me some apartments on Saturday because I've been thinking about getting a place of my own for a while." Snow's mouth was slightly agape. "It's just kinda crowded in here, especially on weekends with all five of us. It's time I get my own place anyway."

Snow stayed silent for a while, obviously thinking about what she would say next. "Well, I understand it can be a little cramped… I just really like having you here. We missed you growing up, and we want to see you as much as we possibly can now." Snow tried to hold Emma's gaze to no avail. "You know that, don't you?" Emma finally looked her mother in the eye. She guessed that Snow saw that she wasn't convinced, so the woman got up, put Neal in the crib and walked over to her. "Emma, really, you are not in the way, and your father and I are so happy you're here. You can get your own place if you want to, but I want you to know that you can always come here, okay? You are our child as much as Neal is, and we aren't trying to replace you."

Emma didn't know how to respond, so she simply replied "Okay." Snow hugged her and didn't seem to want to let her go. That was actually all Emma had ever wanted to hear, but now that she did, she found it difficult to believe it. She would try, but still.

"I'm so glad we finally found you. I don't say that often enough, I'm sorry."

"Oh, I think I've heard the "found" part once of twice," Emma responded and managed to smile. "And then a few more times when reading Henry's book," she laughed and squeezed her mother's hand before letting it go and walking to the door. Snow beamed, but then seemed to remember something.

"What are you doing this Friday, then? You said you had plans," she paused and furrowed her brow. "Is it Hook?"

Emma turned around and laughed at the assumption. Her mother really wasn't updated on her romantic life. "Hook? Seriously? God no, I thought you knew we were done… Not that anything ever really began, but anyway."

"Who is it then? It's not a dinner with Henry and Regina because Henry's at the party."

Emma twitched her hands and wondered what she ought to say. After a moment, she decided to be honest but vague. "Yeah, I'm actually going to Regina's anyway, so she doesn't have to eat alone." She tried to shrug it off as a small deal. Snow's posture relaxed, and she smiled.

"Oh, that's so nice of you, Emma. Hey, we could invite Regina over, and then we could all have dinner together!" her mother exclaimed.

Emma tried to think of a fast excuse why that would not be a good idea. "Oh, let's do that sometime when Henry's here as well, okay? I'm sure he wouldn't wanna be left out."

Snow nodded. "Ah, yes, of course. You're right. I got ahead of myself again. Maybe Saturday..."

Emma smiled as she opened the door. "See you later."

"Have a good day at work, Emma!"

* * *

Ruby was cleaning the tables of the diner when the door opened and Tink walked in. Ruby smiled at the fairy as she walked behind the counter, only to be greeted with an unhappy face.

"Morning. What can I get you?"

"A coffee, please, and a way to fix this mess. I only made matters worse when I pushed Regina back to Robin. She's ruined, and it's all my fault." The fairy sighed and leaned on the counter. Ruby felt sorry for the girl, and she decided to cheer her up.

"Well she didn't look too ruined when I last saw her. Don't worry too much, Tink," she said as she poured coffee in the cup.

"Wait, what? When did you see her, then?" Tink looked genuinely confused. _I guess she hasn't been following Regina's life too closely after all,_ Ruby thought.

"Oh, just, like two days ago, I think."

"Here?" Tink asked.

"Yeah, she was here with Henry and Emma. I think everything's okay," Ruby said and passed the blonde the cup. The fairy looked happy for the first time that morning, but then her expression sunk again.

"But I was supposed to find her love again. True love..."

"I thought Robin was her soulmate?" Ruby scrunched her face. Tink threw her hands in the air.

"I don't know, Ruby! I guess I just don't know anymore. They didn't really teach me the difference to be honest." She slumped against the table. "I thought Robin would've made her happy again. I thought they were meant to be."

Ruby was about to make a bold decision and wondered if it did everyone included more harm than good. She decided that the fairy had suffered enough. Ruby bent over the table and almost whispered the next words.

"I think Regina might've found someone who makes her happy." Then she got up and started talking normally again. "I mean, apart from Henry. It's obvious that he alone would make her happy. I don't know what all the hustle about soul mates and true loves is, really. She did well without any of that anyway."

"Hmm, maybe you're right," Tink said, but suddenly got more alert. "Wait, did you say apart from Henry? Who?"

"I'm not sure, so I shouldn't probably say anything," Ruby shrugged. She knew Tink wasn't going to leave it there, but she thought she ought to try anyway.

"Ruby, please! Can't you see this is important to me?" Tink begged. Ruby looked at the blonde who seemed rather desperate. But what if Ruby was wrong, and she had misread everything? Then she thought of the scene she had seen earlier when Henry had been in the bathroom and smirked. There was no way there was only friendship between the two women. She wasn't blind.

"Okay," she said as she bent closer to Tink again. "It's Emma."

The fairy's eyes went wide. "Emma?" she yelled and then put a hand over her mouth. "Sorry. Emma?"

"Yeah. I think they'll work it out between themselves, though." Ruby looked at Tink's face and could practically see her brain making plans to get Regina a happy ending with the Savior. "So no fairy intervention needed," she stressed to the blonde. "Seriously, just let nature take its course. They'll be together in two weeks."

"Who will be together in two weeks?" Granny's voice called out from the kitchen door. Both Ruby and Tink froze.

Granny came out of the kitchen and raised her eyebrows. Ruby raised hers back, challenging her grandmother, but Tink couldn't seem to keep her mouth shut.

"Emma and Regina!" the fairy yelped.

Ruby glared at Tink, but Granny let out a laugh. "Ha! I saw them the other day. I'll give it a week," she retorted.

* * *

Emma was spinning on her chair out of boredom. David was out on patrol, and nothing was happening around the office until she heard click of heels. Before Emma could stop the chair from spinning, Regina was standing in the doorway.

"I see you work hard for your paycheck," Regina said. This time, she didn't say it maliciously, but with a smirk on her face that sent butterflies to Emma's stomach.

"Um, hi, Regina." She felt her face get flushed as she tried to straighten her hair and bring the chair closer to the desk. She raised her gaze. "Such a nice surprise. What are you doing here?" Emma mentally beat herself for asking that. What would it matter? She wanted Regina there.

Regina started walking towards her and raised a paper bag. "I just got you something from Granny's since I was there." Regina put the bag on the desk, and Emma found a bear claw inside. "I didn't know if you had eaten already, but I thought I'd bring you something anyway."

"Thank you, Regina," she said and smiled at the woman.

"No problem, dear."

Emma took the bear claw out of the bag and took a bite. "Hey, you call me dear. Can I call you something like that, too?" She swallowed. "I don't know. Sweetie..? Gina?"

Regina seemed aghast. "Absolutely not. Do not _ever_ call me Gina _,_ or I'll take that bear claw right back where it came from."

Emma rolled her eyes and took another bite. "Fine."

"Speaking of Granny's, Ruby seemed awfully smug when I was there. You didn't mention last night to her, did you?"

"No, of course not!" Emma answered right away. "I wouldn't do that behind your back."

Regina smiled. "Alright, I didn't really think so. I just had to ask. I guess you haven't inherited your mother's incapability of keeping secrets." Emma took another bite and rolled her eyes. Regina continued, "So, about Friday, since you insisted on paying, I suggest we go get groceries together after your shift... which seems to be very action-filled."

Emma smiled. Such a domestic date. She loved the idea. Hell, she would've loved any date with Regina.

"Yea, sure. It's a date," she smiled at the brunette who walked back to the door and flashed her a smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I'm gonna struggle with writing Snow and Charming, but I'm going to try anyway. Let's see how it turns out.
> 
> (Oh, and I think I'm making Ruby and Tink friends just because)


	7. Chapter 7

Emma was in the grocery store, thinking about her date later that night as she looked for the right kind of pasta . She was pulled back from her thoughts when a high-pitched voice called her name.

"Emma! How nice to see you! I haven't seen you in ages!" Tinkerbell chirped. Emma fought the natural reaction to raise an eyebrow. Why was the fairy suddenly so happy to see her?

"Oh, yeah, well… Being the Sheriff, I guess I just haven't stayed in one place for too long..."

"Well, how are you? How's everything?" Tink crossed her arms expectantly.

"Oh, I'm good," Emma said and chuckled. That was an understatement. "Great, actually."

The fairy nodded and seemed to be waiting for more details. When there were none, she started talking again.

"So, work's good? Personal life? You're not together with Hook anymore, are you?"

Emma furrowed her brow. Why did everyone keep asking her that? It wasn't like they had ever actually been an item. And more importantly, why did everyone care? Unless…

"Oh, you're interested in Killian? I say go for it. We're not together, definitely not," Emma said and paused. She lowered her voice. "Actually, friendly advice, don't go for it. You can do way better, Tink."

Tink just laughed.

"Oh, I've been there, and I'm not going back. Don't you worry, Emma. Just wanted to know how you were…" Tink suddenly stopped talking and turned to look behind Emma, her smile widening. Emma hadn't thought it was possible.

"Regina! Hello there!"

"Hello, Tink. How are you?" Regina pushed the shopping cart towards the two and turned to Emma. "Did you get the pasta?"

Tink seemed to buzz with excitement to the extent she didn't know how to contain it anymore. Emma saw Regina stare at Tink suspiciously, and then the fairy just clapped her hands together.

"So great seeing you both! Bye!"

After Tink was out of reach, Emma furrowed her brow at the confused-looking Regina.

"What was that about?" Regina asked her.

"Oh, I really don't know, I mean, she just kept asking questions about my life, and then she wanted to know if I was together with Hook…"

Regina groaned. Emma looked at her, feeling confused.

"I think she might be meddling with my life again. My romantic life, to be more precise. With you, it would seem."

"Seriously?" Emma asked incredulously. "She's got it all figured out?"

"All signs would point to that, yes. Not only has she tried to do something similar before, but her sudden interest in you and seeing us together would suggest so. I don't know how, though. I haven't talked about any of this with her…" Regina was lost in thought.

"Hey, it doesn't matter. Really. We'll figure it out later, ok?" Emma took Regina's hands in hers and met her eyes. "Let's just get the food now."

* * *

"Ruby, you'll never guess who I saw buying groceries together!" Tink exclaimed as she entered the diner. Before anyone got a chance to respond, she proceeded to walk to the counter and continued, "Emma and Regina! I cannot believe how I didn't see this before. They are perfect together! Oh, Ruby, I think Regina might've finally found the person she should be with. They looked so cute and happy together!"

Tink beamed, but she could feel her smile starting to falter after she got a look of Ruby's shocked face. She felt confused. Hadn't the waitress been happy about the two with her just yesterday?

"Um, Tink," Ruby said and nodded towards the booth Tink had passed when storming into the diner. Tink was faced with a dumbstruck David who seemed to have frozen on the spot, holding his cup of coffee midair.

She understood the potential damage she had just caused by yelling private matters in a public place. She didn't know how to continue. "Oh… Hello, David. Any chance you could pretend you didn't hear what I just said?"

No one said anything. After what felt like hours to Tink, David seemed to find the ability to speak again. He put down the cup.

"You're saying that my daughter and the Queen are… romantically involved?"

Tink fidgeted with her sleeve and looked at Ruby for support. The brunette had no clue what to say either, so Tink decided to try.

"Look, David, it must be hard to understand, but Regina isn't the Evil Queen anymore, and she and Emma have really become close-"

David raised his hand. "I know she isn't, but this is just… Are you sure, Tink?" She nodded. "Ruby?" The brunette mimicked her nodding gesture somewhat apologetically.

David got up and left his coffee on the table. "Excuse me, there's somewhere I need to be," he said and left the diner.

* * *

Snow was lulling Neal to sleep when she heard the door. She got up and found her husband running a hand through his hair.

"David? What's going on?"

"Have you talked to Ruby or Tinkerbell lately?" he said without answering her question. Snow was perplexed. What had gotten into David?

"Well, I went to Granny's the other day… And I did talk to Ruby. Why?"

"Snow, the thing is…" David put his head in his hands and sighed loudly. He looked at her. "Ruby and Tink tell me Emma and Regina are… romantically involved."

She didn't say anything, but just kept staring at David. She sighed and sat on one of the kitchen chairs. David kept looking at her. After a while he broke the silence.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" he inquired.

Snow inhaled and wondered what she should say for a moment.

"Well, maybe it's not terrible."

"Really, Snow?" David responded dubiously. "I just tell you our daughter and woman we also know as the Evil Queen are involved, and you say it's not terrible?"

"Well… If you think about it, it's just beneficial for Henry. He would have his parents together," Snow tried to convince her husband, but also herself. "I'm sure we can find some kind of silver lining in this situation. Emma looked really happy this morning for a change." Emma really had looked a lot happier than usual when she had entered the kitchen, and there was nothing Snow wanted more than Emma's happiness.

"Snow, I know you want to believe she's changed, and I know she has to some extent, but this is the woman who swore revenge on you and cast a curse. How do you know she didn't just cast a spell on Emma? For all we know, this could just be a part of her plan to get back at you!"

Snow stood up. She could feel her cheeks starting to redden. "That's crazy! There's no way Regina would do that! There is seriously no reason for her to do that… anymore. She has been trying to change for Henry if not for anyone else. We are in a better place now." Snow crossed her arms. "I thought about inviting her over for dinner tomorrow. You don't know how she was before she was… forced to marry my father."

David seemed to be counting to ten. He exhaled. "But what if..? Wait, did you say she's been invited to dinner?"

"Yes, she has been invited to dinner. Could you just trust me on this?"

David paced back and forth and finally answered. "Fine."

"And no word about this to either of them. As far as they know, we don't know anything. Maybe Ruby and Tink were wrong, anyway." She nodded and went to check on Neal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay. I didn't know how to write David here, so I got some help from Jess (who beta read this chapter as well, thank you, dear!)
> 
> Everyone has a different headcanon about Snow and David reacting to Emma and Regina being together, but I'm just trying to follow my own headcanon (and partly Jess's, it would seem). I hope you like it! If not, you can let me know, and if you do like it, you can still let me know :D 
> 
> Oh, and I'll probably change the rating back to M again because of the next chapter (and a stupid promise I somehow ended up making to Jess), so that's gonna happen, just so you know!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I'm back. I don't know if anyone's even reading this (anymore), but here's a new chapter anyway. If someone has been waiting for me to update, I'm sorry this is so late. Writer's block + my insecurity about writing (big time) kept me from posting (as well as busy personal life and some other stuff I was writing).
> 
> Anyway, the rating's M now, so there will be sexual content. If that offends you, I suggest you skip this chapter.
> 
> Thanks to Jess again x

Emma was going through her clothes, trying to find something to wear. She didn't usually spend this much time picking clothing, but this night was kind of special. Considering that she had been the one to propose a date, she should probably take it like a date.

She just didn't know what to wear. Had she even worn a dress once in Storybrooke? The whole idea seemed distant and irrelevant. The more she thought of what could happen in a few hours, the more nervous she started to feel.

She sat on her bed and tried to reason with herself. It was stupid to get nervous over this. Under all her cockiness, Regina wouldn't care what Emma wore that much. She had gotten this far with her leather jackets and…

_Wait._

Regina caring about what she wore?

A smirk started to tug at the corners of Emma's mouth as she walked to a suitcase full of clothes she hadn't worn since returning from New York. She had an idea.

After an hour, Emma descended the stairs, hoping to avoid Snow on her way out. She didn't have to worry about Henry, since he had left to the birthday party earlier, or David, who was still working. Luckily enough, she could hear the shower running, so she just checked on Neal who was sleeping in his crib and left a note to her mother before heading out.

* * *

Regina was nervous. She was pacing around the kitchen, waiting for Emma to come join her. She hadn't started cooking by herself because Emma had insisted she help Regina cook, the date being her idea. She looked at the ingredients on the table and shook her head. This was ridiculous. She shouldn't have been nervous about having dinner with Emma Swan or seeing her in general.

That didn't keep her from getting butterflies in her stomach when she thought about the possible ending of their date, though.

She went to the downstairs bathroom to freshen up and looked at her reflection in the mirror. Just as she thought that her black dress showed as much cleavage as her Enchanted Forest clothing and might've been too much, she heard a knock on the door. Regina took one last look at herself in the mirror and made her way towards the foyer.

She took a deep breath, opened the door, and found a dress-wearing Emma behind it. Regina fought the first natural reaction, which was surprise. She had never seen Emma like this. The blonde greeted her with a nervous smile and a hesitant kiss on the cheek.

"You own a dress. Who knew?" Regina said playfully, trying to lighten the mood.

Emma rolled her eyes. "I thought I might do this date thing as properly as I can, so yeah. Plus, I thought you might actually appreciate this dress since I just suddenly got it in New York, just like my other clothes there. They weren't exactly my usual style. I'm guessing you might've had something to do with that," Emma winked.

Regina wasn't sure how to respond. She might've had something to do with Emma's fashion sense after sending her and Henry away. She gave Emma memories about Henry, the ability to cook… and apparently a temporary fashion sense that included something else than jeans, leather jackets, and occasional inexplainable hats. That being said, she did actually like Emma's red leather jacket. Not that she would ever admit it out loud.

"I might've had something to do with that, Sheriff Swan," Regina smirked at the blonde who was smiling back at her, so carefree that all Regina wanted at that moment was to make sure that that smile would stay on Emma's face permanently.

She invited her in, and they made their way towards the kitchen. It was actually impressive to see Emma in action there, because even though she knew the memories she had given the blonde had contained widespread knowledge on cooking, it was another thing to see her do the same things she would've done with the ingredients. They worked in sync, and Regina couldn't help but wonder how it'd be to have Emma around the house full-time. She shook the idea away. One step at a time.

"So, Snow doesn't wanna be the Mayor anymore, and she told me to ask you if you wanted to be the Mayor again," Emma blurted out as she cut an onion in half.

Regina's head turned in disbelief. "Really? She doesn't?"

"Yeah, I guess not. Something about it being your thing. Maybe it's also the Mary Margaret part in her, I don't know. Kinda weird, but hey, what do you say?"

Regina let out a small laugh and smiled Emma. "Of course. I'd be very glad to be the Mayor again."

"Well, then it's settled. I'll let Snow know… Or actually, you could let her know yourself. She said something about inviting you over for dinner tomorrow evening. With Henry and everything."

Regina's eyebrows rose in disbelief. They had come a long way.

"How do you think she'd react to us?" she asked Emma, who sighed as she stopped cutting the onion.

"I don't know, really. Objectively speaking, it would sound hard for Snow White to give her blessing or whatever to her daughter and the Queen, but haven't you two been getting along better lately?"

Regina thought about Emma's words. They had been getting along rather well, and if the dinner invitation was anything to go by, Snow wanted her to spend more time with her family… Which was ironic since she had been forced to be a part of her family at one point.

"I suppose it wouldn't be impossible for her to accept the idea eventually, but I can really expect anything from that to her telling us I'm your step-grandmother."

Emma made a face and stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Eurgh! You're so totally not my grandmother. Or a step-grandmother. You never wanted to be Snow's step-mother, so that would make it obvious. You're the mother of my son."

Regina stayed silent for a moment. She really never had wanted that, indeed. Emma probably took her silence the wrong way, because suddenly she was nervously trying to explain herself.

"I mean, we don't have to talk about that, and I don't wanna assume anything, but you know, if you wanna talk about that, I'm here for you, and I wanna know you, and you'll always be Regina to me and…"

Regina rolled her eyes as a grin made its way on her lips. She turned to face Emma and silenced the Sheriff by bringing her lips to the blonde's.

When they broke apart, Emma's cheeks were red and she was smiling at her.

"I know that. You're one of the few people who want to see me for more than what first meets the eye, and you actually try to understand me, which I'm really grateful for and… happy about. Thank you, Emma." She held a small pause and turned back to adding spices to the sauce. "As for my past marriage, that was certainly not what I wanted, and it was the main reason for the growing hate and desperation that made me a convenient tool for Rumpelstiltskin to use. After that, I've done several things I'm not proud of, using people and killing mercilessly, but as you know, I wouldn't do much differently because it all got me Henry."

"I'm so glad he has you as a mother," Emma said. Regina fought the urge to shake her head. Emma hadn't flinched at the "killing mercilessly" part, so she guessed she was there to stay and support whatever she wanted to be now. Moreover, Emma had told Regina about the encounter with her in the Enchanted Forest, so it really started to seem that nothing could scare Emma off anymore.

"I'm glad he has us both as his mothers," Regina said and turned to look at Emma. The blonde's smile widened, and Regina couldn't help smiling back at her.

* * *

After eating, Emma was sitting next to Regina on the couch in the living room. They had glasses of something she could indeed call the best apple cider she had ever tasted. They were discussing irrelevant topics, probably due to their nervousness, but eventually they schooched closer to each other, Emma's hand resting on Regina's thigh.

"Soo, anyway… Thanks for having me over, Regina," Emma said, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. She started drawing circles on Regina's thigh with her index finger, a bit unsure where she was going with this.

"I'm not sure if you're supposed to say that since this date was your idea," Regina laughed.

The brunette brought her hand to Emma's, interlacing their fingers as Emma turned to look at Regina. Her gaze fell to the woman's mouth, and she licked her lips. _Do it now before it gets weird_. She finally found courage to bring her free hand to Regina's cheek and closed the distance between them.

The kiss started as chaste, and she wondered how far Regina would want to take things that night. They slowly deepened the kiss, Emma's hands tangling in Regina's hair and Regina's hands landing on Emma's waist. She tentatively darted her tongue over Regina's bottom lip, to which Regina responded by opening her mouth and meeting Emma's tongue with her own.

Eventually, they ended up bodies flush against each other, Emma above Regina. She was kissing the other woman's neck and running her hand on her side when Regina spoke.

"As much as I'm enjoying this, would you like to take this upstairs instead of this couch?" Regina gasped with a fair amount of sarcasm in her voice.

Emma raised her head and smirked. She had an idea.

"Oh, there's something I was planning to tell you, by the way," she said. Regina furrowed her brow in confusion as Emma continued, "I got my magic back."

"Wha-"

"Details later," Emma responded, and in two seconds they were both on Regina's bed in the exact same position they had been on the couch. Emma smiled at the woman beneath her as she brought her lips back to Regina's neck.

"We should really talk more about what you were doing when I wasn't talking to you… or what happened in the Enchanted Forest," Emma heard Regina say. "Although, I'm glad to see our magic lessons actually started paying o- oh" the brunette was cut short when Emma brought her thigh between the apex of Regina's legs. Emma stopped kissing the woman and got up on her elbow to see her expression. Regina had her mouth open, and it seemed like she wanted to say something. She turned her head slightly.

"I've never…" Regina motioned with her hand.

Emma cocked her head. "Never... been with a woman before?" she said, trusting her gut instinct.

Regina nodded.

"Such an honor, then." Emma smiled without giving her words much thought. Then she considered something, her expression falling more serious. "You wanna do this, though, right?"

Regina smiled and rolled her eyes. "Yes, of course."

"Okay, if you change your mind, just tell me." Emma wanted Regina to enjoy herself as much as she did. She smiled back at Regina and moved to kiss her collarbone, eventually continuing to kiss her way down until she was stopped by her clothing. Regina moved her hand to open the zipper of her dress, but stopped midway, and then her dress was gone in a puff of purple smoke. Emma laughed and started to kiss the partly bra-covered breast. She brought her left hand from Regina's side to the brunette's other breast while she unclasped the bra with her right hand. She gave Regina a chance to show any sign of discomfort, but the other woman took the matter in her own hands, threw her bra away, and lay back on the bed. Emma smirked at her initiative.

She continued kneading the left breast with her hand and flicking the nipple of the right one with her tongue. She could feel Regina's heart race and hear a quiet moan escape the woman's lips. This was not how she was used to seeing Regina; the usually well-composed woman who often showed no sign of weakness was willingly in front of her now, trusting her like this and showing more of herself than ever before. They had come such a long way. Emma moved up to kiss the other woman's lips again, her left hand still on Regina's breast. Regina sighed into the kiss, pulling Emma closer as she tentatively bucked herself against Emma's thigh.

Emma pressed one more kiss on the woman's swollen lips and moved down. Regina whined at the loss of contact with her thigh, but stopped when she seemed to realize that Emma was kissing her way down her stomach, towards the little clothing Regina was still wearing. Emma could hear Regina's breath hitch when her head hovered over the panties, her nose brushing against the wet fabric.

"Can I?" Emma asked as she raised her gaze to see how Regina was reacting.

Regina waved her hand at her and let out a breathy laugh. "Emma, I'm fairly sure you can, and I would be more than eager to-"

Regina didn't get to finish her sentence because of a gasp Emma pulling down her underwear caused. Emma pressed a kiss on Regina's sex, able to taste the woman right away. She brought her tongue out, swiping her way up. Regina let out a quiet moan.

"That's right, just relax," Emma spoke while her mouth was still practically touching Regina.

"I… am… relaxed," Regina stammered, lacking half of the usual power of her words, her breath hitching when she uttered the sentence. Emma fought the urge to shake her head at the woman, deciding to concentrate on more urgent matters than a snarky comeback. She brought her tongue to Regina's sex again and swiped her folds slowly on each sides, feeling the slickness of the other woman cover her chin. She darted her tongue out, as far as she could reach, and she could feel the brunette's hips buck towards her face. Emma kept moving her tongue in and out, up and down, and after that she finally sucked Regina's clit.

Emma could feel Regina's hand fly into her hair and the brunette's hips jerk again. Regina's reactions to her touches and the sounds she made started to build up Emma's own arousal as well. She raised her head, and Regina whined.

"Everything good? Something else you'd like me to do?" she asked, slightly out of breath.

"Well, for one thing, I'd very much appreciate if you didn't stop now," Regina snarked, breathing hard and moving her hips in anticipation.

Emma couldn't resist the temptation to move up Regina's body before actually granting the woman's wish.

"Yeah?" she smirked at the brunette, only to receive a scowl.

"Yes. Please," Regina said when Emma was facing her again. Emma brought her lips slowly to Regina's, knowing that she could taste herself now. Regina responded to the kiss, but quickly brought one of her hands to Emma's and guided it between them.

Emma broke the kiss and looked Regina in the eye. Regina's eyes were so full of desire that Emma couldn't keep the woman waiting any longer. She brought two fingers to Regina's entrance and pushed in. Regina gasped, but Emma captured her lips with her own while tentatively curling her fingers inside Regina. She loved the feeling of the other woman around her and how slick she was, aching for release. Emma started to move her hand back and forth, twisting her fingers with each thrust.

Emma left Regina's lips and moved back down. She brought her mouth back to Regina's clit while continuing the movements of her fingers. Not too long after that, the woman under her started to writhe and breathe unevenly.

"Emma, I think… Don't stop. Harder."

Feeling Regina around her fingers, smelling and tasting her, and hearing her name from her lips kept working Emma up. She twisted her fingers and added pressure, keeping her thrusts even. Finally, Regina's back arched and she moaned as she came. Emma waited for a bit before pulling out and soon got up to kiss Regina's lips.

"Emma…" Regina uttered between the kisses. Emma smiled and watched the brunette's eyes flutter open. After a few lazy kisses, Regina surprised Emma and flipped them over.

"I'm afraid you are too fully clothed," Regina asserted as she smirked at her.

Emma laughed at the realization that she was still wearing her dress which she was now keen on unzipping as quickly as possible. Regina moved, and with her help, Emma was out of the dress in record time. Soon they were back flush against each other, kissing, skin against skin.

Regina didn't do much at first, but she soon seemed to decide to follow Emma's example and touched her breast. Emma gave her a content, encouraging smile, so Regina started kneading her breast and soon brought her hand under her bra. Regina pinched her nipple, which surprised Emma and elicited a gasp from her. After that, the brunette slid her hand down Emma's stomach.

Emma could feel Regina's fingers trace a path towards her underwear-clad sex. The brunette cupped her, and she couldn't keep in the surprised moan that followed. Regina smirked. Emma was suddenly very aware of how Regina could feel the wetness through the fabric, which built up her arousal even further. Regina massaged her for a while and then looked questioningly into her eyes. Emma nodded and pressed a kiss on the brunette's lips, and Regina brought her hand to the waistband of the her panties, slid her hand in, and was met with her slick folds.

Regina cupped Emma again and just held her hand there for a while, but then she took her panties off with her free hand and found Emma's clit with her thumb. Regina rubbed it, and Emma whimpered, overthrown by the realization that this was actually happening. The brunette continued playing with her clit and running her fingers up and down Emma's folds for a while, but she soon pushed one finger inside her. Then Regina, however, removed the finger, which Emma protested with a dissatisfied grunt.

Regina added another finger as she started moving again, two fingers thrusting inside her. Despite the fact that Regina hadn't done this before, Emma was very much enjoying her touch and badly aching for release.

"Does this feel good?" Regina asked.

"God, yes, Regina. Please, don't stop."

Her words seemed to excite Regina who kept going, and after a while, Emma asked the brunette for "more" and "harder," so the woman added a third finger and more pressure to her thrusts. Regina brought her thumb back to play with Emma's clit, which eventually led to her repeating Regina's name over and over again. She ground against Regina's hand, her walls clenching around the brunette's fingers. Finally, Emma stiffened and came, breathing heavily.

Emma could feel the fingers leave her, and she opened her eyes. Regina was grinning smugly and hovering over her, supported by her elbows.

"Why didn't we try this before? We could've tried to solve our problems and aggression issues in a nicer way right in the beginning," Emma joked, grinning at the woman above her.

Regina laughed, and that was the most beautiful sight and sound Emma could've ever imagined. She flipped them over and kissed Regina again.

"What would you say about round two?" she asked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regina giving Emma fashion sense based on this headcanon post by parilla-d/rachel--duncan http://queenssaviour.tumblr.com/post/79284008758/headcanon


	9. Chapter 9

Emma was woken up by a kiss on her cheek and Regina leaving the bed. She opened one eye but refused to separate her head from the pillow. She was hardly a morning person, which could not be said about the woman she had spent the previous night with. Regina opened the curtains, and sunlight filled the room. Emma wanted to magic the curtains shut, but she guessed Regina wouldn't necessarily appreciate that very much.

"Regina? Seriously? It's like 6am," she whined.

"8am, actually," Regina responded as she gathered the clothes sprawled on the floor.

"Come back to bed," Emma muttered and tightened her hold on the pillow. There was no way she was getting up just yet.

"We can spend the day in bed some other time," Regina laughed as she put their clothes on a chair.

Despite not having Regina back in bed with her right now, Emma smiled. There would be another time. She sighed contently, ready to fall back to sleep at least for five more minutes.

"You should get up if you want to take a proper look at the apartments we're going to see today," Regina reminded her.

Emma put a pillow over her head. It was Saturday and her day off, after all.

"It's too bad you want to sleep in so badly," Regina added as she walked to the bathroom door. "I was hoping you would share a shower with me."

Emma's head shot up when the door closed. "Okay, I'm up!" she announced and made her way towards the bathroom.

She had had enough sleep, anyway.

* * *

Snow entered the kitchen carrying Neal and saw David sitting at the table drinking coffee and eating cereal. She could see her husband's distress, but wasn't sure how to discuss the topic from the previous day. They saw the situation so differently. She thought Emma could be really happy with Regina, and vice versa, when David had been shocked at the idea Ruby and Tinkerbell had. Snow remembered the conversation she had had with Emma and the note her daughter had left her the previous night, which made her think her best friend and Tink might just be on to something. Emma's bed hadn't even been slept in when she had gone there to wake her daughter up an hour ago.

"Morning," she started uncertainly.

"You know, I think I really need to talk to Emma. I need to make sure that Regina doesn't have her under a spell or something," David said with a serious face. Snow opened her mouth, but she didn't know where to begin. Finally, she decided to speak her mind because David's ridiculous assumption showed her that her husband was taking this too far.

"Regina hasn't cursed Emma! She looks happier than ever before after coming back here!" Even if Snow might've thought Ruby and Tink were wrong before, she had now come to the conclusion that the two women were onto something. And as much as everyone thought she and Regina hated each other, Snow could've actually never hoped that the woman wouldn't come back to her old self and love again. What was more, Snow had never particularly enjoyed seeing her daughter with Hook. "I told you before, you don't know her like I do. It's not that she's even changed. She's more like her real self now. The woman who saved me," she added to her doubtful husband.

David exhaled loudly and shook his head.

"She has proved herself over and over again," she continued.

"Alright, I'm gonna talk to Emma," David said as he got up. He started walking towards their daughter's sleeping quarters when Snow realized he wouldn't find Emma there.

"Uhm, David? Emma's not there."

"How come? It's her morning off, she always sleeps at least until 10 o'clock. She doesn't have to be at work before one."

"She's just," Snow said as she motioned towards the stairs with her free hand, trying to come up with a solution. "Not there."

"Where is she, then?" David furrowed his brow and rubbed his neck.

"I think she might've fallen asleep at Regina's since she was having dinner there," she piped and was suddenly very busy to find something in the fridge.

David groaned and brought his hands to his face. He inhaled and fixed his posture. Snow knew he wanted to say something harsh but fought against it.

"Okay. I'm off to work, Snow."

She put a milk carton on the counter and turned to face David. Her husband got his cup and plate from the table, put them in the dishwasher, kissed her goodbye and left the apartment. She supposed that conversation could've gone worse, but there was still a long way to go.

* * *

Regina shook her head as Emma opened her the screeching door of the old apartment building. The apartment they had been looking at had been something she would never want Emma or Henry to spend any time in… Or herself, for that matter. She supposed she would be spending a lot more time with Emma now, and that was likely to include occasional visits to the woman's future apartment.

Emma said that the apartment could be something to consider, which snapped Regina right out of her thoughts.

"It was terrible! You're not moving in there!" She laughed incredulously as they made their way towards the car.

"It wasn't _that_ bad!" Emma protested, but Regina saw a mischievous smirk was tugging at the corners of her mouth as well.

"Not that bad? Emma, dear, the bathroom was smaller than –"

"Well, okay. So not that one. And not the one before. Maybe third time's the charm?" Emma wondered.

"We can only hope so. There aren't that many vacant apartments. It's not like I expected any new inhabitants to move here when I cast the curse," Regina muttered and rolled her eyes. She had much less expected to be going apartment hunting with the Savior post-curse after spending a night together, but there they were.

Emma's mouth turned a bit agape. "Oh, that's right. Look, I could just move in the last one, though. It's not that big a deal where I live," she said and shrugged. Regina wasn't the least bit convinced by Emma's argumentation.

"I want you to have something permanent that's good for both you and Henry. We're not giving up so easily," Regina reasoned with the determined woman who didn't seem to realize that she deserved a lot better than the apartment they had just seen. She could've just asked Emma to move in with her since there was more than enough space in the mansion, but at the same time she didn't want to push things, nor did she expect that she would actually deserve to have Emma live with her after all the things she had done. What was more, it was very hard for Regina to believe that she had actually found her happy ending this time. (In addition to the one she had already with Henry, of course.)

Emma was just too good to be true. What if something happened again? Like with Daniel? Or with Robin… Although, now that she thought of it, her relationship with Robin had been so short and superficial compared to the one she already had with Emma. Regina had hardly known the man, and he had only known one side of her. The same couldn't be said about Emma.

"Regina? What are you thinking about? An apartment hunt isn't supposed to be this serious," she heard Emma say, and her melancholy thoughts were interrupted.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about something else. Nothing you should worry about," she shrugged. "Although, you should be taking this apartment hunt more seriously," she pointed out. They ought to change Emma's living arrangements somehow if that was what the blonde wanted.

"Okay, well, let me know if you wanna talk, okay?" Emma said, her expression somewhat suspicious. Regina guessed Emma could see right through her by now and that Emma knew there was something she wasn't saying. She read her better than anyone else.

"Of course," Regina answered as they got in the car. She doubted she'd be voicing her previous thoughts anytime soon, though.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My apologies for updating so irregularly!
> 
> (There's some M rated content in this chapter.)

Henry had left the birthday party a bit early and was currently on his way to Granny's. The other kids were leaving only at midday, but he had to talk to Ruby about something before he'd spend the rest of the day at his grandparents'. He supposed it was his Ma's apartment, too, which was weird because he was kind of used to living with just his Ma in New York. Although, if his plan ever worked in the best way possible, then he wouldn't have to think about things like that, because both of his mothers would be living together. The idea made him smile. He just really wanted his moms to be happy, and being happy together would be an extra bonus for everyone involved.

"Ruby!" Henry called as he reached the counter and couldn't see the waitress anywhere. Soon enough, Ruby appeared from the back room with a puzzled expression on her face. He was glad Ruby was in on his plan. He had a lot to tell to his confidant.

"Henry, what's up?" Ruby asked him.

"Well," he started to explain, but then the door to the diner opened again, and Tink walked in.

"Hello, Ruby. Hello, Henry," the fairy greeted them as she sat on one of the barstools. Henry wouldn't have minded Tink's company otherwise, but he really wanted to tell Ruby about his plan.

"Ruby, I have something to say about my moms," Henry tried to start.

"Oh, yeah, your moms…" she started.

"Shhh," Henry whispered and put a finger on his lips. His moms' possible relationship was Very Classified Information and they couldn't tell about it to the entire diner.

"Oh, yeah, Henry," Ruby scrunched her face apologetically, confusing him for a moment. "I kinda told Tink about your moms. She's Regina's fairy… well, not godmother, but… You know, anyway, I told Tink. I hope that's okay."

Henry gave the new information some time to sink in and came to the conclusion that this was good news. It meant more opinions and allies in his new operation.

"Okay," he started again. "I'm sure my moms would be really happy together, and even true loves, so I have an operation. It's called Operation Happy," he said and nodded.

"Isn't that one of the dwarves?" Tink asked. Henry and Ruby both rolled their eyes.

"Yes, that's one of them, but I think Henry meant more like his moms being happy. Am I right, Henry?" Ruby clarified as she poured cocoa into two mugs.

"Yeah, exactly," Henry continued, excitement welling inside him. "I thought about Operation Parent Trap first because of that one movie, but I thought it might make it obvious, so I thought happy isn't too clear. They'll probably think we're talking about the dwarf anyway if they hear something."

"How is this operation going to work?" Tink asked, anticipation showing on her face now as well.

"Well, the first step is to get my moms spend more time together. I think that part is going pretty well, really, they're meeting again tonight. Mom's even coming to have dinner at Grandma and Gramp's. And Ma's coming over to Mom's all the time, anyway."

Henry could see the two women on the different sides of the counter exchanging a look he chose not to comment on. "So yeah, the first part is to keep them happy like that, and then probably some push, but I'm not that far yet. Probably something romantic, and I don't know about that…" He paused and turned to the blonde next to him. "Tink, you could help."

"What, me?" the fairy looked surprised. "How?"

Ruby laughed and put two cups of cocoa on the counter, Henry's with cinnamon and Tink's without any.

"Weren't you supposed to be an expert on soulmates and all that?" Ruby smiled, raising an eyebrow at Tink.

"Well, not exactly, I never got that far before I lost my wings," Tink said and looked at her cocoa.

"Sh- Tink, I'm sorry," Ruby said, and Tink raised her gaze.

"Well, we'll fix that," Henry said. "You'll find out now that you're in Operation Happy."

Tink gave him a small smile, but Ruby looked thoughtful and far too serious for Henry's liking.

"Hey, Henry, just let them work it out themselves a bit before rushing into things too much, okay? Ask for our opinion first, would you?"

Henry stayed silent for a moment and nodded. "Yeah, okay. But you're in the operation now. Not a word to outsiders," he said as he looked at both women for confirmation.

"Not a word," they both said in unison.

Henry nodded. Everything was going according to his plan.

* * *

Emma opened the door of her parents' apartment at 6.13pm. She found her mother cooking and father playing with her baby brother when she entered the kitchen. She tried not to feel jealous because she knew it wasn't right to feel jealous of a baby, but somehow she just couldn't help that small part of herself who felt so insufficient and replaced, no matter what Snow had said before. She shook the thought away and forced a small smile on her lips.

"Hi, how's it going?" she asked. Both Snow and David turned their heads to her direction, but Snow was the only one who answered.

"Oh, you know, fine. Making dinner," her mother responded. Emma got the impression that Snow tried to appear more relaxed than she actually was. Emma furrowed her brow, and Snow continued, her voice faltering a bit, "How're you? Is Regina coming?"

Emma's suspicion grew. "Yeah… That's still okay, right?"

"Oh, of course," her mother smiled. David was still quiet. "Just let her know we start at seven."

"Okay."

"How was the apartment you went to see?"

"There were four, actually. The third one was okay. I'm thinking about it. There are a couple of others I'm planning to check out, too," she shrugged and made her way towards the bathroom. She had had to chase Pongo again at work, and she really wanted to freshen up before they had dinner, especially since Regina was coming.

* * *

"She said nothing about not being here last night," David commented to Snow after Emma had left the room.

"Well, what would you have expected her to say?" Snow asked. She made a small pause. "I want to ask her about it… I won't, but I would like to know what's going on. But this time, no, I will not meddle."

David hummed in agreement. He supposed that was the wise thing to do here. They had done their fare share of meddling when it had not been needed in the past, so maybe a new strategy would work this time. As much as he didn't trust Regina to be nearly good enough for his daughter, he chose to trust his wife's judgement for now and observe the situation quietly.

"I'm going to act normally," Snow continued. "And I won't let them find out we know anything. I expect you do the same."

David sighed and nodded.

"I still want to talk to her about this eventually."

* * *

The doorbell rang at 6.57. Emma was just finishing combing her hair when she heard Henry's "I'll get it!" She took one last look at herself in the mirror and hurried to greet Regina who was hugging Henry at the door already. The sight of these two people who meant so much to her made her feel like she had finally found where she belonged.

"Hi," Emma smiled. Regina let Henry go, her gaze meeting Emma's.

"Hello," Regina responded, smiling back at her.

"Come in. Wait, I'll get your coat," Emma said, and Regina handed the coat to her.

She watched Regina walk towards the kitchen and then saw Henry eye her suspiciously.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Henry shrugged. Emma knew something was up with the kid, possibly a new operation or something else she just wasn't a part of this time. Emma pulled her phone from her pocket and texted Regina since whispering in the woman's ear wasn't an option under these circumstances, and telepathy wasn't one of the magic skills they shared. _Was that even magic? That's not relevant. Focus._

**_I think Henry's up to something. We should lay extra low tonight just in case he's somehow figured out the same as Tink._ **

Emma waited for a response and finally walked into the kitchen, too. Regina seemed to have been talking with Snow, but was now reaching for her phone.

"Excuse me, Snow," Regina said, read the text, and scrunched her face. Then she started typing.

_How could all of them know? This is getting absurd._

**_Idk but let's just be careful ok?_ ** Emma typed as she walked to sit on the couch, because she didn't want to arouse too much suspicion in Snow.

_Of course._

_What's "Idk"?_

**_I don't know._ **

_Well why would you use it then?_

**_Regina! I meant it means I don't know. Not important rn_ **

_You type like a child._

The dinner went surprisingly well. Henry talked about school. Emma talked about her patrol and the apartment. Snow seemed to have gotten over not wanting to let her go live on her own, although she seemed to put on a somewhat melodramatic face a few times. Snow and Regina discussed the post of the mayor, reaching an agreement on Regina returning to her duties the following Monday. David didn't say much, but just concentrated on eating, which made Emma more suspicious.

Snow brought a cake to the table just as Neal started crying, and David got up and went to calm the baby down. Emma wondered if she should've used that as an excuse to go talk to her father, but she quickly decided against it. They could have a conversation later.

"I thought we might as well have cake since there's a lot to celebrate," Snow continued talking. "Everyone's getting along so well, things are working out with Neal. Regina's becoming the Mayor again. Emma's getting a place of her own, and even though it's hard for me to let go, I'm still proud of her." Snow patted Emma's shoulder. "Regina, I hope you like the cake. I didn't know what kind of dessert you prefer nowadays. I should've probably asked Henry or Emma…" she muttered the last sentence as she went back to the refrigerator to look for something.

Regina cleared her throat and smirked. "Well, I do have a thing for apples, but who knows if I can find a new favorite dessert tonight," she said as her gaze raked over Emma.

Snow didn't seem to understand the implication, luckily, but Emma's eyes widened. _Seriously?_ Just when they had agreed to lay low.

"Yeah, Grandma's chocolate cake is really good. You'll love it," Henry said when cutting the cake, unaware of his mothers' silent communication.

"It really does look delicious, Snow. I'm sure there are only few things I'd rather taste," Regina continued as she kept smiling innocently at Snow. Emma fought the urge to put her head in her hands and flee the scene.

 ** _Not funny Regina. Cut it out._** She texted.

 _It is kind of funny, though. She would never get it._ The message on her screen said soon.

They ate the cake and continued talking. Emma was getting really paranoid that Snow had understood what Regina had implied earlier, but her mother seemed to act normally, so she guessed they were safe. After some more chatting, Regina left to go back to the mansion for the night. Or so she had made it seem, but Emma couldn't get past what she had said during dessert. After brushing her teeth and getting into bed, Emma texted Regina again.

**_What if David had been there?_ **

_Well, he wasn't there now, was he?_

Emma rolled her eyes, and her phone beeped again.

_I wasn't completely satisfied by the cake, by the way. I think I'm craving something different tonight, and I think you might be able to offer what I want. Would you mind if I stopped by?_

Emma gulped audibly, ran a hand through her hair, and proceeded to type.

**_Always trying to do my best madam mayor._ **

A puff of purple smoke appeared in front of Emma, and she was faced with a smirking Regina in her silky robe.

"Well, that makes me glad," Regina said. "By the way, leaving the comma out means you're, as you might put it, doing the Mayor."

"Wait, we seriously can't, they'll hear," Emma whispered as she tried to recover from her initial shock. "I mean, have you seen the size of this apartment? It's tiny!"

* * *

Regina raised her hand. "A silencing spell. They won't hear a sound," she smirked and walked closer to Emma's bed.

Their eyes locked, and Emma got up on her knees on the bed so that her body was soon flush against hers. She cupped Emma's face, pulling her in for a kiss she had waited for all evening but hadn't had a chance to give Emma until now. Emma tasted like mint toothpaste and was quick to deepen the kiss by tracing her tongue over Regina's lower lip.

They fell on the bed, Regina propped up on her elbows as she hovered above Emma. She moved a strand of hair behind Emma's ear and traced her lips from Emma's mouth to the blonde's neck, planting small kisses everywhere and nipping at the delicate skin a few times. Regina moved one of her hands tentatively from Emma's hip to palm her breast, which elicited an excited gasp from the blonde.

She started kneading the breast, but before she knew it, Emma told her to wait and sat up. The blonde magicked her top and bra off, baring her skin as she smirked at Regina, and fell back to her previous position. Regina brought her hand back to the breast, massaging it while she kissed her way down from Emma's neck to her chest.

After a short while, Regina removed her mouth from Emma's breast and slid down her stomach. She kissed her way to the edge of Emma's underwear, which caused the other woman to buck her hips slightly. Regina smiled against Emma's skin, and she cocked her head to see her face. Emma was propped up on her slightly trembling elbow, looking at her.

"May I?" Regina asked, finding her voice a bit hoarse.

"God, yes," Emma responded and fell back on the pillows.

Regina let out a laugh as she removed Emma's practically soaked underwear. She could see Emma's labia glistening, and the woman's hips bucked again.

"Regina… Please."

Regina darted her tongue out and got the first taste of Emma, licking her folds slowly, first left, then right. She decided to mimic what Emma had done to her, and after some slow teasing flicks, Regina brought her tongue to Emma's clit, which drew out a few moans from the blonde. Then, she set a pace and repeated what she had done already over and over again.

Regina loved how Emma responded to the flicks of her tongue. Her hips tried to get closer to her face, and Regina nuzzled closer to Emma, half of her face completely moist from Emma's fluids. She kept going eagerly, having waited to taste the other woman for more time than she could recall right then.

Emma's panting started to get uneven and louder as the movement of her hips got less controlled. Regina responded by licking harder and faster, wanting nothing more than to push Emma over the edge. The blonde's hands were fisted in the sheets, trying to keep her still as she moaned.

"Regina… Don't stop. Regina, I'm…" Emma writhed, unable to finish her sentence as she gasped and reached an orgasm. Regina gave her some final flicks of her tongue, and pulled herself back up next to her.

Regina saw Emma open her eyes as she turned to face her. She knew she must've looked like a mess, her makeup partly come off and half her face glistening. She laughed because she couldn't remember when she had last felt this free.

Emma looked at her for a moment, a smile starting to tuck at the corners of her mouth. "So, how was the dessert?"she asked as Regina shook her head and kept sniggering.

"I seem to have found a new favorite tonight, and unfortunately for Snow, that wasn't the cake," she replied and brought her lips to Emma's, unable to stop smiling.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I'm back. I'm sorry for my absence (I've been writing another story, studying for exams, and traveling). Even though I haven't updated in ages, I still haven't been able to let this story go, so here's an update (in the celebration of me coming out to my mom tonight tbh, I feel so relieved. Life is crazy).
> 
> Anyway, my beta reader isn't reading my stuff anymore, so feel free to point out any mistakes and let me know if you'd like to beta read :D

Henry rubbed his eyes and yawned. His Grandma had woken him up too early – it was Sunday, after all, and he hadn't gotten that much sleep on Saturday night because of the movie marathon. He was still happy he had gone. They had watched four Marvel movies, and everyone had been so nice. He could hardly believe that he had friends now, because the situation had been so different for years when they had been cursed. He smiled. Things were looking up. If only he could make his current operation successful...

He was making his way up the stairs to wake up Emma. Past experience told him that getting Emma up could be difficult, but Snow had asked him to try. Since this gave him an excellent opportunity to make some inquiries for Operation Happy, he wasn't too opposed to the idea. He opened the bedroom door quietly, expecting to find his birth mother in a dormant state.  
"Ma, Grandma wants to know..." he started as he walked in, but was stopped by the sight that waited him in Emma's bed. "Mom?!"

Henry couldn't believe his eyes… or his luck, for that matter. Both of his mothers were in Emma's bed, fast asleep. Or they had been just a second ago. His voice had apparently awakened his older mother in an inexplainable speed, her head shooting up from the pillow. Emma was soon waking up too, her movements slower and her expression confused.

"Henry…" his Mom mouthed, but no sound came out. This time she just might've been caught so off guard that she didn't know what to say. She was clutching the white sheet, seemingly unable to form any sort of coherent sentence, or any audible word for that matter. Emma was a little dumbstruck, but regained her speaking abilities faster.

"Hi, Kid, there's something we should talk about, probably," Emma said as her gaze went from his Mom to him.

"Yes, I knew it!" he exclaimed, unable to hold in the excitement that followed the shock anymore. His mothers had realized their feelings, and could be true loves, even. He felt like Christmas had come early.

"Wait, what?" Emma asked and furrowed her brow.

"I knew you were together," he said. "Well, sort of. Or more like hoped…"

This seemed to give his Mom her speaking abilities back.

"You did? And you're okay with this?" she said incredulously, her voice higher than in a normal conversation. Emma brought one of her hands tentatively on his other mother's shoulder and gave it a pat that made his Mom calm down slightly.

"Of course. I just want both of you to be happy, and now we can all be a family. This is so great!" He was so excited. He didn't have to put that much effort into Operation Happy, because his mothers seemed to have figured out a lot of it themselves.

Now both of them were sitting silently on the bed, though, still holding the sheet, neither knowing how to respond. His Mom's expression was still shocked, albeit not as surprised as before, and Emma was starting to look a bit amused with the whole situation, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh, and it sounds like Grandma's coming here soon. She's probably wondering why you aren't up. She sent me here," Henry informed his mothers when he heard someone coming up the stairs.

"Well, I must go then," his Mom reasoned and poofed away just before Snow appeared in the doorway.

"Emma, good morning!" Snow said, completely unaware of what had just happened. Henry wondered how she would've reacted if she had been the one to wake Emma up. "You're awake. Did Henry wake you up? It's ten AM soon and you said you'd go to work at eleven," she continued as she walked to the window to open the curtains. "I thought you went to bed early. How were you still sleeping?"

Henry saw Emma shrug awkwardly when Snow opened the window. His birth mother shot him a silencing glare when Snow's back was turned. Not that he would've said anything in the first place.

"I don't know," Emma muttered.

"Okay, well, get ready for breakfast. I need to go check up on Neal," Snow said and left the room.

"So, when are you gonna tell Grandma and Gramps?" Henry asked after he was sure Snow wouldn't hear them anymore.

"Henry…" his mother started, obviously trying to pick the right words. "I know you want this to work, and trust me, I want this to work, too, but real life doesn't work like your book. We need to see how everything goes."

"But you really like Mom, right?" Henry wanted to make sure. Emma had to. It was obvious to basically _everyone._

"Yeah," Emma said and grinned. "I do. That's probably an understatement."

"Could you be True Loves?" Henry asked. He decided to test his theory.

"Kid…" Emma's expression turned serious. "It doesn't really matter to me what term you want to use or what love is called in the Enchanted Forest… What I know for sure is that spending time with you and your mom makes me want to stop wanting to run away from things more than anything else, even though that's what I've done all my life," Emma stopped for a moment and smiled at him. "And I hope your mom feels the same way about me, but you can never be sure because adult relationships are really complicated, not like in your book. No matter what happens between us, though, we both love you, okay?"

Henry thought about what Emma had just said and nodded. She made the whole thing seem overly complicated, as adults usually did with most things.

"I love you both too, and I really want you to be happy," he said and saw Emma's small smile widen. "I'll go get some breakfast, see you there!" he said and left the room. He really wanted to talk to Ruby and Tink now.

* * *

 _"So, how did it go?_ " Regina's voice asked on the other end of the phone line. Emma wondered how she would summarize what had happened before breakfast. She turned in her chair and made sure that no one was near her office. She had gotten to work after 11AM, only to find out no one had needed the Sheriff anyway. It was a calm boring Sunday as usual, which gave her time to call Regina.

"It went as well as it could," she started.

_"Did you talk to Henry?"_

"Yeah, we talked a little bit after Snow left the room. I didn't know how to respond when he started asking about true loves and telling my parents." Emma paused because having a conversation like this was when she usually wanted to run. Not that she had had parents to tell about her romantic life before, but mostly loving someone and not being loved back had definitely happened, her first experiences being her foster homes. Emma shook her head. Why was she thinking about this now? "So, anyway, I told him that spending time with both of you makes me happy, and I hope you feel the same way. Oh, and I also said that real life isn't like his book, and that it's more complicated than that."

_"I do quite enjoy spending time with you as well."_

Regina sounded like she was smiling, which brushed Emma's negative thoughts aside momentarily. She couldn't hold back a grin, and she was very happy no one else was in the office then, because her facial expressions would've made anyone suspicious.

_"Are you going to Granny's on your coffee break? I could accidentally show up there at the same time."_

"Yeah, I was thinking about it," Emma responded.

" _It's a date, then,"_ Emma heard Regina's confident voice and smiled.

"I'm not sure if my boss appreciates me having dates in the middle of working."

_"I'm sure your boss, starting from tomorrow, would very much appreciate occasional extra-curricular activities on your breaks. And after you finish working, too, for that matter."_

Emma let out a small laugh. "Madam Mayor, you've changed." She could hear Regina laugh on the end of the line too. She loved how carefree their talks had become. "So, I'll see you at two?"

* * *

Ruby was carrying tea cups from the kitchen to the diner when she saw Henry sitting on one of the barstools. The boy was quite possibly wearing the biggest smug grin she had ever seen. She expected the teenager to burst soon for whatever reason, probably due to something to do with his mothers.

She was amused how she had become Henry's confidant. She was, after all, Snow's (who Henry probably didn't want to know anything yet) best friend, but Henry had decided to trust her anyway without a second thought. She had realized that she had very recently avoided talking with Snow so she could keep her life away from any potential drama concerning Emma and Regina for as long as possible. She didn't feel particularly keen on breaking Henry's trust, but she didn't want to lead Snow astray, either… Although, she figured David must have talked to Snow already, so maybe this was a secret only to Emma and Regina. Ruby had come to the conclusion that anyone with eyes could tell something was going on between Henry's two mothers.

"Hi, Henry. What's up?" she asked nonchalantly.

"Ruby, Operation Happy has been a success!" the boy tried to hiss but ended up being loud anyway.

Ruby couldn't help raising her eyebrows. Had something happened already? _Or more like finally_ , she corrected herself. "Really? What happened?" she asked as she approached Henry. She didn't want him to yell whatever it was that had happened to the entire diner.

"Well, I went to wake up Ma this morning because Grandma told me to," Henry started in a low voice, "and guess who I found sleeping in her bed?"

 _Oh my God._ What had Henry seen? "Regina?"

"That's right. Mom didn't say much because she was so shocked, but after she and Grandma left, I talked with Ma, and she said spending time with me and Mom makes her happy… Then she also said that I shouldn't expect all the True Love stuff because relationships are complicated. I'm pretty sure adults just make them complicated themselves."

Ruby smiled. It seemed that Emma had handled the situation as well as possible. Wait… "Did you say after your Mom and Grandma left? Does everyone know now?" And more importantly, could she finally talk to Snow?

"Oh, Grandma doesn't know. She's kind of clueless, I think. Mom left just in time," Henry shrugged and had a sip of the cocoa Ruby had just placed in front of him automatically.

Did this mean that Emma and Regina had no idea that David knew? But David would've surely told Snow, wouldn't he? Maybe Snow knew but just hadn't told Regina and Emma that she did, and the two women had no idea that anyone else than their son knew. Ruby shook her head. This reminded her of that one episode of Friends.

"So, what's your next move concerning Operation Happy?" Ruby asked after she came to the conclusion that it was smart to change the topic a bit.

Henry showed a pensive face before answering. "Quality time together. They'll probably realize they're in love and maybe True Loves if they spend time together. I'm gonna ask to spend time with both of them, and then just leave after some time, but at the same time they'll see what a great family we would be."

Ruby smiled. Henry's idea didn't sound bad, really, and she actually hoped everything would work out just as the boy had described.

"Oh, and I'll try to get Emma to move in with us, maybe."

"What was that?" Ruby asked. She had heard what Henry had said, of course, but the idea had just escalated pretty fast.

"She's looking for a new apartment, so why not move in with us? It would make perfect sense."

"Okay, well," she tried to choose her words wisely again. She didn't want Henry to have false hope or him to push things with Emma and Regina, even though it seemed quite obvious that the two weren't just having a one-night stand. She hoped to see the two women interact soon, because honestly, she was getting curious. "You need to let your moms make that kind of decision and wait because it's important that they figure things out by themselves, okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Henry replied after some hesitation and finished his cocoa. "So what's new here?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any thoughts? Oh, and my tumblr is queenssaviour in case anyone's interested! Have a great week! :)


	12. Chapter 12

Regina was on her way to Granny's to meet Emma on the Sheriff's break. The previous night was still vividly on her mind, and she couldn't suppress a smile when she thought about falling asleep next to Emma in her post-coital bliss. She could soon feel her smile falter, though, when she remembered the awkward situation they had been in that morning. What would Henry think of all of this? Him finding his two mothers in bed together instead of them breaking the news to him in a more appropriate manner hadn't been ideal, but he hadn't been half as shocked as she had been. She was glad that Emma had talked to Henry after her leaving, but she would still need to talk to their son about what was happening.

Regina reached out her hand to open the door to Granny's, but someone opened it from the inside before she had a chance to enter. She was pulled back from her thoughts when she was faced with a beaming Tinkerbell.

"Regina! Hello there!"

"Hello, Tink. How are you?" she asked. She wondered how the fairy managed to look so happy all the time now. Hadn't she felt so happy herself, she would've been highly irritated already.

"Well, I'm good, I'm good. How about you? Everything good? Anything you'd like to give me an update on?"

Regina fought the urge to roll her eyes. She supposed Tinkerbell really did know about her and Emma; she couldn't come up with any other reasonable explanation after the fairy's questions and how Tink had acted when she had seen her and Emma together in the grocery store.

"Why don't you tell me what you'd like to get an update on?" Regina was tired of playing this game. She was tired of Tink's suggestions. All she wanted right now was to go inside and have some coffee with Emma.

She saw the fairy hesitate for a moment. Tink flexed her fingers and took a deep breath. "Well, the thing is, I think it seems like you have found love in your life again, and I'm just really happy about that. I was wondering if you'd like to tell me something about it… Especially since there was the whole soulmates thing that kind of backfired and I blamed myself for that a lot, so anything you'd like to tell me?" Tink stumbled upon her last words and blinked a few times afterwards, waiting for her answer.

She sighed. Henry knew the truth already, so it wasn't that big a deal to tell Tink now. She just hoped the fairy wouldn't go around town telling every passer-by that the former Queen had found love with the Savior. _Love?_

"Fine, Tink. I've been having… feelings towards Emma for quite some time now, and incredibly enough, she seems to reciprocate my feelings. So yes, I'm romantically involved with Emma," she said and paused for a second. "Is that sufficient for you?"

It seemed to be more than sufficient for Tinkerbell. The fairy's smile widened from before, and she threw her arms around Regina and hugged her. Regina froze and didn't know how to react to the sudden change of atmosphere, but then she pat Tink on the back.

"I am just so happy for you, Regina!" Tinkerbell almost sobbed as she let go.

"Yes, well, I'm rather glad myself," she muttered. "I would appreciate you not telling this to anyone, though. I rather not have the whole town talking about this."

Tink nodded vigorously. "Oh, yes, got it. Sure thing. My lips are sealed," she said and brought a finger to her lips. "Anyway, I've gotta run. Have a good day, Regina!"

Regina rolled her eyes. "See you, Tink," she said and finally entered the diner.

* * *

Emma was sitting in her familiar corner booth when she saw Regina walk into the diner. Regina was wearing a blue blazer similar to the one she had worn in Neverland and looked as gorgeous as ever. Her brown eyes scanned the room, finally landing on her. A corner of her mouth tugged into a smile, and Emma couldn't help grinning back as the brunette approached the booth.

"Hey," Emma said as she watched Regina sit down opposite her with her usual grace.

"Hey," Regina said back at her. The moment made her think of Neverland, although apart from Regina's clothing and the greetings they had shared there, the scene bore little resemblance to the situation they had been in then. They had been lost and without their son, and now they have found him and each other.

She and Regina didn't get to talk very long before Ruby arrived to take their order. The waitress looked like her usual self, but seemed to be rather amused by something. She didn't word her thoughts to either of them, though, but disappeared after taking their order and flashing them a charming, knowing smile. Emma made a mental note to talk to her later.

"I told Tink about us. I hope you don't mind. She wouldn't stop before I told her, and since Henry already knows…" Regina said and raised her brow.

Emma smiled. Of course she didn't mind Tink knowing, because honestly? Despite her momentary thoughts of doubt and feeling like she wasn't enough, she just wanted to tell the entire world how much Regina meant to her and how happy she made her. And Regina telling Tink about them showed that she wanted to be with her too and wasn't regretting anything, didn't it?

"Yeah, it's okay, don't worry."

"I still told her that she shouldn't make it the town gossip because I have no interest in people guessing whether or not I put a spell on you," Regina continued.

Emma's head shot up. "That's so stupid." After everything Regina had done for all of them recently, why on earth would she put Emma under a spell now? Besides, Emma knew who Regina had become and who she would always really be for her, just Regina, not the Evil Queen –

"It's not like I could blame them for thinking that, though," Regina said, interrupting her thoughts. "You know what I did to Graham's heart by now. We've talked about this…"

"I know what you've done, Regina, but I think the things you've done later show that you're capable of change and knowing right from wrong. You want to redeem yourself. You wanna do what's right. For Henry, if not for anyone else."

There was a moment of silence during which Regina didn't look at her, but picked invisible lint from her blazer. Emma waited for a reply and didn't say anything.

"I'd do that for some other people, too" Regina started quietly. "There's… you, and… there's Snow." Regina still wasn't looking her in the eye.

Not so much hate there anymore, after all. Emma thought it best not to say that out loud, so she just smiled when Regina finally looked at her.

"Okay, enough sentimentalities. Tell me how your day has been." Regina changed the subject, and Emma soon complied by telling her about the boring day she had had at the office. Nothing happened at work on Sundays, anyway.

* * *

Henry was sitting on the couch in the living room of his grandparents' apartment and clutching a PlayStation controller in his hands. He hadn't had the time to catch up on his video games because of Wicked Witch aunts and being kidnapped and taken to Neverland and all, but now he was finally playing his new Dragon Age game and feeling like any other teenager for once.

"Henry… Have you noticed anything different about your moms?" His Grandma's voice sounded from the kitchen, momentarily disturbing his game. Was she onto something?

"I don't know. Why?" He kept his gaze locked on the television screen and decided that he could still play the game while answering the questions. He'd probably seem a lot less suspicious if he played as he spoke, too.

"Well, they seem a lot closer than before."

"Yeah, they're really good friends." He wasn't sure why he wasn't just telling Grandma what was going on, but Emma had made it clear to him that he wasn't allowed to, and he wouldn't have any problems letting his moms handle this themselves now that they actually seemed to be on the right track. In addition to that, Mom had taught him telling other people's secrets wasn't good manners, so he decided to keep his mouth shut. He was thirteen already, after all.

"Yeah, they're really great friends. Henry, are you sure you don't know something I should know?" Grandma's voice was getting higher and she seemed to be aching for an answer he wouldn't give her. She seemed to know something was going on, so couldn't she just ask moms?

He paused the game and put the controller down. He saw Snow standing behind the kitchen island with an expectant expression on her face.

"Look, just talk to my moms. I can't really help you now."

"I should talk to Emma and Regina?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure they'll explain it better," he replied. Or in a more complicated way, because they're making this way too complicated, he added to himself as he turned back to his game.  
"Okay, Henry. Thank you… I'm going to Regina's office tomorrow anyway because I promised to tell her what's happened to her town while I was Mayor. I guess I'll talk to her then," he heard her say as he grabbed the controller from the coffee table.

He really hoped everything would go well. Surely Snow White would recognize True Love when it was right in front of her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda just a fill-in chapter, really, but I really wanted to post something because it had been such a long time since the last update. I think I know how I wanna finish this story now, though, but I still have quite a lot of writing to do... I'd say at least four chapters. (Plus some of the prompts for the upcoming Swan Queen Week on tumblr inspire me, but... we'll see.)
> 
> ps. Is Henry even thirteen after 3b? Does anyone know so I can fix it if it's wrong? (Also, I don't know anything about video games, but my friend who does said that in her opinion Henry would play Dragon Age, so...)


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back. SQW took all my time and this fic doesn't have a beta reader, so... sorry. Some M rated stuff at the beginning in case you wanna skip that.

Emma was on her way to the Mayor's office to congratulate Regina on reclaiming her job. She could feel a small smile starting to tug at the corners of her mouth; Regina had seemed so happy and amazed when she had first heard about getting her job back.

She greeted Regina's assistant before going in and told her they shouldn't be disturbed. Sheriff's business and all. Possibly some other business, too, if Regina was feeling up for it, although Emma left that part out.

The young woman said she would have her lunch break then and started putting her coat on, which worked perfectly for Emma. She knew there wouldn't be anyone disturbing them as she made her way towards Regina's office.

"Good morning, Madam Mayor," Emma started as she entered the room. As she walked further in and looked around, she noticed her mother's bird painting was gone and there was a bowl of red apples on the table.

"Sheriff Swan," Regina smirked. She raised her gaze from a box containing official-looking folders. "What a pleasant surprise."

"I would sure hope so," she replied, unable to help herself. She walked closer to Regina who was standing behind her desk and received a curious raise of an eyebrow.

"Really, Sheriff?" Regina queried with a playful smirk on her lips, her eyes on Emma instead of the folders in front of her.

"Yeah," she replied, happy that Regina was playing along. "Really."

Emma approached the other woman until their breaths mingled, enjoying the changed atmosphere of the room. She waited for Regina to say something, but the brunette merely cocked an eyebrow at her daringly, so she brought her lips to Regina's and received a content sigh.

Her hands found their way to Regina's hips as they kept kissing, playful at first, but soon with more force. Her teeth nibbled at Regina's lower lip until her tongue finally met Regina's, causing the other woman to bring her hands to rest on Emma's chest and whimper into the kiss. The sound made Emma feel sudden throbbing at the apex of her thighs, and she hoped that Regina would like the idea of sex in her office as much as she did.

It wasn't the most romantic gesture, but she could try that next time.

Regina seemed anything but reluctant to let Emma go further, a quiet moan escaping her lips when Emma's mouth descended to her neck and collarbone. Emma's left hand played with the hem of Regina's skirt as she tried to determine whether or not the woman wanted her to continue.

"Emma," Regina breathed out, "Did you lock the door?"

Emma realized she hadn't, so she flicked the wrist of the hand that was still on Regina's hip and heard a small click.

"Did now," she mumbled into Regina's neck as she sucked lightly on the woman's pulse point. "I assume that means you wanna do this?"

"Yes," Regina replied in a hoarse voice Emma remembered from their last nocturnal encounter.

"All I needed to hear, Madam Mayor," she responded playfully as she got down on her knees, ready to pull Regina's skirt down.

Even though she had entertained the thought of having sex with Regina in the Mayor's office more than once in the past, she had never actually believed they would get there. Their banter had always been more unresolved tension and challenging each other verbally than actually acting on their desire. Now, things were different as they made each other's life better, and Emma was more than eager to celebrate it like this.

She cocked her head to look up into Regina's eyes to make sure her advances were still welcome. The desire in the brown eyes accompanied with a small hip thrust towards Emma's face showed Emma they were on the same page, so she magicked away Regina's panties and stockings, unable to wait any longer. Regina spread her legs wider, giving Emma more room to work with as her hands gripped the side of her desk.

"I swear I'm more refined…" Regina muttered under her breath as she kept bucking her hips.

"Do you want me to stop, then?" Emma asked, rising her gaze once more.

"No, just touch me already," Regina snorted.

That's all she needed to hear. Emma swiped her tongue across Regina's slit, eliciting a sound that could've been heard in the hallway if anyone had been listening – neither of them had performed a silencing spell this time. She continued her licks slowly, teasing Regina's folds as she inhaled her scent and felt her own arousal starting to build up.

The gasps Emma elicited from Regina as she kept pushing her tongue in were rewarding, and after a while, she moved to lick Regina's wet folds again, eventually circling Regina's clit with her tongue. As Regina's hips started to buck towards her face, Emma traced her left index finger towards Regina's heat, her mouth never leaving the woman's clit. She sucked on Regina's clit and pushed in with one finger, then two, curling them in a way Regina had responded to positively before.

As she continued her ministrations, she could feel Regina's inner walls starting to clench around her fingers and the movement of Regina's hips get more uneven. She sped up the pace of the flicks of her tongue, which finally brought Regina into an orgasm, the jerking of her hips reducing as she let out a guttural moan. Emma kept her fingers in, letting Regina ride out her orgasm, but she stood up to press a firm kiss on her lips before breaking apart and looking at her well-sated face.

Regina was still panting unevenly when Emma pulled her fingers out, but the brunette flashed her a smile so carefree that Emma couldn't help kissing her again and wrapping her arms around her.

"That was fun," she asserted between kisses. "I had wanted to do that for a while."

"You wanted to… eat me out in my office in the middle of the day?" Regina laughed, kissing her back.

"Maybe…" Emma confessed and broke the kiss. She was slightly amused by Regina's word choice. "Welcome back, Madam Mayor."

Regina smirked at her and brought her hands to Emma's waist. "Thank you… You know, there's this thing I always wanted to do to the insufferable Sheriff of the town when she came to disturb my work days."

"Yeah?" It seemed to her Regina wanted to continue playing this game, and Emma was more than ready to comply.

"Yeah," Regina replied and her right hand moved up to palm Emma's breast, her thumb circling her nipple through the fabric as they kissed again.

Emma fought back a frustrated groan when she heard steps in the hallway. Regina's assistant must've returned from her lunch.

"How… inconsiderate…" Emma panted between kisses, but made no move to shift away from Regina until she could hear her _mother's_ voice.

"Hm, it's not supposed to be Bianca's lunch break yet," Snow's voice sounded.

"Oh, God," Emma let out, unable to believe her bad luck. She moved away from Regina who magicked her clothes back on just a second before Snow walked into the office without even knocking.

"Regina! Oh, hello, Emma," Snow said as confusion dawned on her face. "I actually wanted to talk to both of you. We should have lunch."

Emma put her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and tried to act casual, but Snow's eyes were scanning the two of them suspiciously. Emma turned to look at Regina and realized that even though the Mayor was wearing all her clothing again, her lipstick was still smeared and her hair was somewhat disheveled. Emma took her right hand out of her pocket and brought it to her face, hoping that all that was on her face was Regina's lipstick.

They had really fucked up keeping this a secret, because even Snow couldn't be this oblivious.

Emma turned her back to Snow, blushing as she tried to unnoticeably brush off any traces of Regina still left on her face. She would've used magic to clean herself up, but she came to the conclusion that that would've just seemed more suspicious. She saw Regina was still standing confidently with a hand on her hip, most likely completely unaware of her smudged lipstick.

"Why did you want to talk to us?" Regina asked in an unamused tone, the earlier warmth of her voice gone.

"Well, here's the thing…" Snow started. "It seems to me you two are in love, and we should talk about that."

Emma's mouth fell open. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. Neither could Regina, because she was suddenly frozen on the spot, a faint blush creeping on her olive skin. Emma didn't think she had even seen Regina blush before.

"Mom, I don't think…" Emma tried to start as she turned around to face Snow, but didn't know how to continue.

"It's my first day back at work, Snow," Regina said in her politician voice, composing herself and changing the subject faster than Emma was able to. "I should really catch up on some urgent matters. I don't know how you handled… well, anything." Regina picked up a thick folder from the table and flipped a few pages, pointing at something.

"You're telling me you can… I don't really want to think about the details about..." Snow mumbled almost inaudibly, "the things you've been doing with my daughter on your first day back at work, but you can't get lunch with me?"

"Mom!" Emma couldn't believe they were having this conversation. Out of all the potential scenarios she had had, this just hadn't been one of them. She had expected both eventual acceptance and utter shock, but not for her mother to be so… _fine_ with everything straight away. Snow seemed almost excited, eager to talk.

"Yes, Snow, that was what I was implying," Regina retorted as she dropped the folder back on the table with a smack.

"Well, I won't have it. I think we should talk about everything. I think it's safe to say we're one big family now."

"Okay, let's just all take a break," Emma said. She didn't want Regina to feel forced to join Snow's family again. Everything was going way too fast, and despite her mother meaning well, she didn't exactly get her message through in the most subtle and thoughtful way possible. "How did you even find out?"

"Well, I talked to Henry…" Snow started.

"I swear I taught him to fight his genetics and be silent when it's necessary," Regina muttered to Emma.

"I was ten! And Henry didn't tell me anything. He sure knows how to keep a secret by now. You raised him well."

That seemed to silence everyone in the room. Emma supposed that was something Regina hadn't heard often, and she made a mental note to thank Regina again for raising their son. She felt so grateful Henry had been brought up by Regina. And he had brought them together, too.

"So," Snow said, breaking the silence. "I thought something was going on way before asking Henry. I was getting more certain every day, and Emma not showing up after your dinner was a big sign. Oh, and David overheard Ruby and Tinkerbell talking. They have their theories and everything."

"Ruby?" Regina exclaimed.

"Dad?" Emma couldn't believe they had been trying to lay low and pretend there was nothing going on when the entire town knew.

Snow turned to face her. "Yes, Emma. He came home straight from the diner the other night and I had to calm him down a little… I think he'll be okay once he sees what a lovely couple you make."

"Calm him down?" How badly had David taken this?

"Yes, well," Snow started. She seemed uncomfortable. "He might've been a bit suspicious. When he thought Regina had cast a spell on you, I quickly told him how wrong he was, though."

Emma had known that would be a possible reaction, but hearing her father had actually thought that made her shake her head. Regina had changed. She saw it so clearly herself. Why couldn't everyone else?

"You didn't think along those lines, too?" Regina asked, turning Snow's attention away from Emma.

"Of course not. I've seen how loving and true you can be, and I'm so glad you are there again now. Emma deserves someone who feels as deeply as you do."

Regina seemed to be left speechless, and Emma couldn't blame her. She couldn't form any kind of smart sentence either, so she just stood there, hoping that either Regina or her mom would say something.

"So, Granny's?" Snow finally asked, a bit too chipper.

Emma's gaze fell on Regina, who finally nodded, still unable to say anything.

"Yeah, sure, just… Mom, would you give us a sec, please?" She really needed to talk to Regina before having lunch with either woman.

"Of course… I'll… I'll wait for you outside," Snow responded after a moment of hesitation and left the room with a timid smile.


	14. Chapter 14

"You okay?" Emma asked her as soon as Snow was out of hearing distance.

Regina exhaled slowly. She had to compose herself. "That was… quite something. Yes, I'm fine. Your mother can be surprising sometimes." Her relationship with Snow had developed so much. The remnants of the woman who had cast a curse and sworn to destroy Snow White's happiness were telling her this was bad and she should avoid any contact with Snow and just take her daughter away from her, but the woman she had become - a mother, a mayor, just Regina - was bigger than those bits of the Queen. She felt overwhelmed by a situation where she was actually in such good terms with everyone and turning her life around.

"Yeah," Emma replied as she moved closer to her and took her hands in hers, which made Regina realize what Emma's fingers had been doing mere minutes ago. She shook the thought away. They had a lunch to attend to.

"I can't believe Snow was able to keep her mouth shut even though she knew," she thought out loud. Regina wasn't the only one who had changed. Snow had learned to keep quiet about things that weren't her business. "That dinner on Saturday must have been torture for her. She played her part very well, too. I could almost call it impressive."

"I know, right?" Emma laughed. She was quickly starting to relax, her posture changing. "You wanna go to Granny's?"

"I suppose we could. She'll just keep bugging us until we give her a chance to ask all her questions. Trust me, I know." She had lived long enough with Snow and seen her grown up to know that the persistent woman wouldn't let this go.

Emma laughed. "I believe you." She looked her in the eye and pressed her lips on hers. "You ready to go?"

Regina looked at Emma. The Sheriff's curly hair was completely disheveled and she had lipstick all over her face because of their earlier activities. Regina laughed, realizing how she must've looked herself and wondering how Snow hadn't been more shocked when she had seen them. As dense as Snow could sometimes be, she couldn't be completely clueless about what had been happening in the office a moment ago.

She let Emma's hands go and flicked her wrist, making Emma's hair and face look the way they had when the blonde had first entered the office. Emma went to see her reflection in the mirror on the wall with a rather impressed expression on her face. Regina followed her and flicked her wrist again, causing her own hair and makeup become as intact as usual. She didn't want the townspeople to have more to talk about than what was inevitable. Even if she didn't care that much about what others thought, there were still Emma and Henry to think about.

"Yes, I think we're ready."

* * *

Snow slid into a booth at Granny's, sitting across Emma who had chosen to sit beside Regina already. Snow felt a burning need to call David and talk to him, but she hadn't had enough time after she had spoken to Emma and Regina in the Mayor's office. Now, she was in the diner and she was supposed to spend time with her daughter and… daughter-in-law? Ex-stepmother? _Regina._

She really wanted to talk to Ruby, too, since her friend had known about this and hadn't said a word to her! She needed to know what that was about. She could see Ruby was currently talking to Grumpy and placing orders on the counter in front of her. Snow silently contemplated whether it would be rude to leave the table to talk to her friend or not. She doubted her company would actually mind being left alone, so maybe she could do just that.

She saw Ruby leave her conversational partners after she had given the dwarves their drinks. Her friend's eyes measured Emma and Regina as she walked towards their table, and they soon landed on her with a smirk. Snow fought the urge to start asking her questions straight away.

"Can't say I was expecting this…" Ruby said in a carefree tone as she flashed them a smile. "So, what can I get you?"

Snow had no idea what Emma and Regina had ordered, but she ordered a garden burger, and Ruby left them with a smirk still on her lips. This was getting ridiculous.

"Well, the secret's out to everyone now, I guess," Emma laughed meekly.

"Hmm," Regina murmured.

"How do you feel about that?"

"I feel good," Regina replied quietly and flashed Emma a bright smile that reached her eyes. Snow hadn't seen her looking this young in decades.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

The two sat in silence after that. Snow would've wanted to hear more of their conversation, but she figured her being there might've had something to do with them not continuing. She soon forgot everything she had been meaning to ask, anyway, because she just really wanted to talk to Ruby first.

"Will you excuse me for a moment?" she asked, making her way towards Ruby after receiving nods from both Emma and Regina.

There hadn't been more orders after them, so her friend was behind the counter again. Snow reached the other side of the diner, and Ruby raised her gaze to meet hers. Her friend seemed all too amused.

"Snow, hi! What's up?"

"Ruby, I know you know." She looked Ruby in the eye knowingly.

Ruby seemed to realize what her expression meant. Her mouth fell open and she let out a relieved laugh. "Haha! Thank God! We can finally talk."

"I can't believe Henry told you but not me! Why would he do that?" She took a deep breath and tried to stop there, but couldn't. "Why does no one tell me anything? Emma didn't tell me! I'm her mother! Everyone seemed to know before I did!" Everything Snow had thought just came out of her mouth, but not in the composed way she had planned. She guessed keeping everything in for such a long time had its effect on her.

Ruby stayed silent for a moment before replying. "Well, we kind of came to the conclusion together before we actually knew anything for sure, so there's that. Then he had this really great operation for his moms planned, but they kinda took care of that themselves. I wanted to ask you what David thought, but then I thought I shouldn't meddle more because I would've told you about Henry's plans and everything… It was messy. I'm so glad I don't have to keep stuff from you anymore."

"Me too." Snow supposed Ruby's explanation was sufficient. Her friend had just wanted to keep any possible drama to a minimum.

"So, we're okay?" Ruby asked uncertainly.

"Of course we are." Snow would've never wanted to hold anything like this against Ruby. She smiled and sat on one of the barstools.

"Are you okay? With Emma and Regina?" Ruby scrunched her brows together. She seemed worried instead of amused now.

Snow let out a small laugh. "Honestly? I'm excited."

"Excited?" Ruby's tone was surprised.

"Yes, I can't wait for all of us to be one big family. They work so well together. I love both of them so much, and Henry has his mothers together, eventually under the same roof, I'm sure… Maybe they'll get married!" she hissed as silently as she could. No one had to know about her plans right away.

"Whoa, easy there, Snow. You're starting to sound like Henry… I guess we know where he gets it from." Ruby smirked, and Snow returned the smile.

"I can't believe I wondered if they'd just become good friends," Snow muttered and shook her head. At least she hadn't been as oblivious as David.

"Gal pals," Ruby muttered and laughed.

"What?"

"Never mind. Our conversation seems to have an audience," Ruby said as she nodded behind her.

Snow turned around on her seat to find Grumpy, Happy, and Sneezy standing right behind her. How long had they been there? And more importantly, how had everyone gathered around them without her noticing? Emma and Regina were walking towards them, too.

"So, the Queen's lesbians with the Sheriff right now?" Grumpy asked in a sour tone.

Snow didn't get a chance to reply to that since Emma was next to Grumpy by then with her eyebrows raised. "First of all, lose that tone. If you have a problem with Regina, you have a problem with me. Second of all, I'm bisexual; not that my sexuality, or Regina's, is any of your business."

"I've honestly had enough labels for a lifetime, so I'd rather not go there," Regina added as she rolled her eyes. Snow thought Regina looked like her distant queenly self and rather bored with the entire conversation.

"There you go. Any more questions?" Emma said. Her voice was lacking its usual warmth.

"No, sister," Grumpy replied, his expression still sulky. "See you later," he added, nodding at Snow as he put his beanie on. He strode out of the diner with Happy and Sneezy on his heels.

Snow came to the conclusion she would have to talk to Grumpy, too. He seemed to need some time to come around, a bit like David, which wasn't really all that surprising since they knew Regina as the Evil Queen before anything else.

"Ruby, I can't finish that order if you won't even get them their drinks," stated Granny as she came out of the back room holding a plate of lasagna. "Oh. What's going on here?"

"Everyone knows about Emma and Regina's _thing_ ," Ruby informed Granny, winking an eye as she turned around to face her grandmother.

"Well, no surprise there. Took everyone long enough…" Granny shrugged as if she was bored by the topic already. "Ruby, the drinks."

"Yeah, Granny," Ruby replied. She shot one last smile at Snow before walking towards the back room. Snow shook her head and fought a laugh. Her best friend was enjoying this too much.

"Wait… When did this happen?" Granny yelled after Ruby.

"Sometime last week," Ruby's voice sounded from the back room.

Snow almost asked Emma for a more specific time because she was right there and would surely know, but decided against it. It didn't matter that much, and she had a feeling that maybe Emma didn't want to share that now, as much as Snow would've wanted to bond over the topic.

"Oh, damn it. Had it been three weeks ago, I would've won the bet, but Belle's _something went down last week and not before that_ is closer then. I need to pay up."

"You were betting on when we would get together?" Emma's hoarse voice asked after a short moment of silence.

Snow was surprised everyone had kept her out of this. Why did everyone keep doing that? "Belle is playing this game too?"

"Everyone's been betting for ages, but no one ever gained anything. I guess Belle was just lucky this time," Granny said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. She moved to the other side of the counter to face a bewildered Emma and an astounded Regina. Snow could easily hear what Granny was saying despite the older woman lowering her voice. "Just between us, you could tie the knot before February so I won't lose to Geppetto, too… And move in together in two months…" When Granny got no response from either woman, she made her way to the other side of the diner. "Okay, lasagna, coming through."


	15. Chapter 15

Emma sighed. She had come the loft to talk to David since Snow had insisted on it so much after their lunch. Emma would've just rather left the conversation for later and gone to Regina's, but on the other hand, she wanted to settle this once and for all before her evening patrol.

As she opened the door of the loft, she saw her mother standing next to Neal's crib. The sight made her feel like an outsider in the apartment she lived in, but she tried to ignore the feeling. Besides, she had found a place that really felt more like home to her, and she would be going there later that night.

She had felt rather nervous after Granny's comment about her and Regina living together and getting married, but she had calmed down now. When she had been seated back in their booth next to Regina, she had felt better already. Regina felt so right. She would try not to panic even though her past relationships had never worked out in the long run.

Snow turned around and smiled at her, but Emma couldn't see her father anywhere. For a moment she wondered if Snow telling him that Emma and Regina were really something more than friends had upset him too much and he didn't want to see her anymore. She tried to reason with herself that there were many other possibilities why David wasn't there.

"Hi. Where's Da– David?" she asked, lowering her voice so her brother wouldn't wake up. She never knew what to call her parents, although she had started calling them Mom and Dad more than before. She saw Snow's smile falter at her hesitation, and she felt uneasy for a moment.

Her mother shook it off quickly, though, and a smile appeared on her face. "Oh, he's just in the bathroom. I talked to him about today, and I think he's coming around. He'd still want to hear everything from you, I'm sure."

 _Great._ Well, at least it would be over with. As much as it could be, at least. Regina, Snow, and David had so much history behind them that she didn't know if they'd ever be completely ready to let the past go.

"Okay," she said. She walked to the conch and sat down, noticing Snow's eyes were still on her.

"Would you like some tea or cocoa?" her mother asked tentatively.

She really didn't have an appetite for anything then, so she declined politely and sat there waiting until her father appeared from the bathroom. David looked somewhat nervous, a hand on his neck and his expression apprehensive and confused, but he still sat down in an arm chair next to her.

"Hi, Emma. How's it going?" he asked, giving Emma the vibe that he would rather not be having this conversation.

"I'm good," she lied.

"Snow told me that you two had lunch with Regina today," he continued. His gaze left her momentarily as Snow went to the bathroom, apparently deciding it was time for David to have a private chat with Emma.

"Yeah, I did. I'll be going there for the night again." She didn't want to stall this conversation as much as David did. Whatever it was her father was going to say, she could take it. She just wanted to go finish her evening patrol and go to the mansion.

"I talked with Snow, and… Are you sure this is what you want and that it's your choice you're in… a relationship with her?"

A relationship. Emma hadn't even used that word out loud, but oddly enough, it didn't make her uncomfortable like it sometimes did. When it was Regina, it felt right. "Yes."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. For all of you she was the Queen who wanted revenge, but for me, she's Regina. I've come to know her so well and I l– know who she is, and she's the mother of my child. Being with her, it…. It feels right, and she makes me happy." She looked at David, and he seemed to be listening to her every word intently without any anger on his face. "And I really wanna make this work. Trust me?"

David exhaled and closed his eyes. He stayed silent for a short moment and opened them again as he spoke. "Alright, I'll do my best. Your mother thinks along the same lines as you do, so I guess you two know something about Regina that I don't…" He stayed silent and then added, "It's just that I saw her as the person who put your mother through all those terrible things for so long, so it's hard to let that image go completely and ask her to be a part of our family with open arms."

"We already share Henry anyway, so that kinda makes us family," she retorted. She understood where he was coming from, but it was very hard for her to hear anyone trying to exclude Regina from her family, from Henry's family. Regina was Henry's mother.

It was funny how she was so insistent on Regina's rights as Henry's mom. After "He's my son!" and "No, he's not. He's mine!" they had actually come to a point where both of them reminded everyone else that the other was also Henry's mother.

"True," David's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "And I'll try my best if that's really what you want."

"It is. Thanks, Dad." She smiled. They still had a long way to go, but they were getting there.

* * *

Regina felt like her life was back on track. She had had a fulfilling day at work; she had fixed many things Snow had managed to mess up as mayor. Snow was royal, but she certainly was out of her area of expertise when she had a modern small town to run. Regina, on the other hand, had 30 years of practice.

She smiled. She had her job, her son living with her – and not hating her this time – and things were well with Emma. She was going to make dinner for herself and Henry and have a talk that she should've had with him already. She was glad Emma had talked to Henry about their situation, but she really needed to have a chat with him, too.

Despite Regina's plans, dinner went on without her mentioning where she and Emma stood. Henry talked about school, and Emma's name came up multiple times, but she still didn't know how to talk to her son about the relationship she had started to pursue with his other mother…

 _Relationship._ Regina realized they hadn't called it that out loud yet. It had a nice ring to it.

She knew she would have to talk to Emma first, though, because she had seen the other woman somewhat uncomfortable after Granny's comment earlier that day. Other than that, everything was going almost too well.

"So, when's Emma coming over again?" Henry asked as he put his utensils down.

"Tonight, actually, but only after her evening patrol, so after your bedtime. You'll see her in the morning before school."

"Okay, cool," Henry replied. Regina saw from the slight smile on Henry's face that he was thinking about something he wasn't saying. She let it slide this time, supposing another operation wouldn't be likely to take place just yet.

They played Lego Marvel Super Heroes on Henry's Playstation before Henry went to bed. Regina had taught herself to play on Henry's console as she had wanted to spend time with her son, especially when he hadn't had any friends to play with. Even though she wasn't as skilled as Henry's other mother, she wasn't _that_ bad with a Playstation controller in her hands.

She had really missed spending time with her son without a care in the world, just the two of them. It was nice to have some time together with Henry and see that he wanted to spend time with her, too.

Eventually, Henry's bedtime came, and she went upstairs to say goodnight. Henry was already in bed when she walked into his room, but his lights were still on and he was propped on one elbow, a pensive look on his face.

"I'm a little surprised Ruby never said anything to anyone," Henry started. "She's great. Makes me feel like I can trust grown-ups and tell them things."

Regina felt amused by Henry's choice of a new friend and sad because she wasn't the person who made him feel like he could trust grown-ups. Maybe she was over-analyzing it. "Yes, she really kept her mouth shut. As did your other new friend, Tinkerbell, although I must say she was a bit more transparent than Miss Lucas."

"Really?"

"Yes, she looked like Christmas had come early… Or whatever it was fairies celebrated in the old land." It was likely Tink didn't even know about Christmas. "Anyway, as I was saying, I hope you can trust me with things too…" She sat on the side of Henry's bed and it made her smile when Henry didn't flinch like he used to when Emma had first come to town. "I am still very sorry I broke your trust and made you think you believed in tales that weren't true, when they, in fact, were. I promise not to do that again, and I will try to be better. I'm really glad you're back home again."

Henry listened to her words with a serious face and then finally smiled, causing a wave of relief wash over her. Nothing in the world mattered like Henry did, and nothing ever would. She knew Emma felt the same way; their son was the reason life made sense and why all sacrifices and things she had done were necessary. It had given them their son.

"I'm really glad I'm home too, Mom," he said and flung his arms around her in a hug. Regina hoped Henry would never stop hugging her, no matter how old he would be.

"There was one more thing I needed to talk about," she remembered as they finally broke the hug.

"Ookay…"

"I know Emma talked to you already, but I just wanted to make sure you know that whatever happens between Emma and me, I will always love you," she said and looked into Henry's eyes, making sure he was paying attention. "And so will Emma."

Henry smiled and nodded. "Okay, yeah, I got that. I love you guys too and I'm super happy you realized you love each other by yourselves… Oh, and I have one more thing to say: You're making this too complicated."

Regina laughed as she stood up. Not one of those malevolent laughs she had been accustomed to for so long, but a happy and carefree laugh she had come to remember again when Henry had entered her life. She walked to the threshold and turned off the lights. "Probably."

"Mom?" Henry's voice sounded from the dark.

"Yes, Henry?"

"You just answered "probably" when I said you and Ma love each other. Do you?"

She had to replay their conversation in her head to realize Henry had said actually said that. She tried to figure out what her not noticing meant. Was it so natural for her to think that she loved Emma?

"We'll talk about this later. Good night, Henry," she said, avoiding the question she would eventually have to answer.

"Good night, Mom."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ughh I think I've fucked up more than one characterization here because I've been working on this for such a long time, and I really just wanna finish this story more than anything so I can get it over with. What a mess. Two (or three) chapters left, I think.
> 
> Follow me on tumblr (queenssaviour) or on twitter (queenssavlour, that's an L there, and I have the username in caps on twitter) for more nonsense if you want. Have a great weekend! x


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what this is but I wanna update before going to bed. I apologize for any grammar/other mistakes. I'll try to fix stuff tomorrow after work. (Feel free to point out anything that's incorrect. Still not a native speaker, still no beta reading this particular fic.)
> 
> Here's the penultimate chapter. It was supposed to be happy but it's a lil bit angsty, sorry.

As Regina waited for Emma to finish her evening patrol, she fell asleep on the living room couch. First, she dreamt about Emma moving in and everything going smoothly, but her dream took an unexpected turn when Emma started blaming Regina for all the things that had gone wrong in her life. The Emma in her nightmare accused her of separating her from her parents and her having a miserable life; she brought up Graham's death and told her she was a cold-blooded killer who never deserved to be loved in return.

Then, her mother appeared out of nowhere and crushed Emma's heart, just like Daniel's. That was when Regina woke up, a soundless scream on her lips. Even though she realized Emma wouldn't actually say those things and her mother wouldn't be around to crush Emma's heart, a voice in the back of her head told her that Emma really deserved someone better than her.

She had time to compose herself before Emma came back at 11:30 PM. Regina had been waiting for the blonde to arrive a bit earlier, but Emma told her there had been an incident with some dwarves and pirates and too much alcohol in the Rabbit Hole, so the Sheriff had been needed there.

She tried to shake off the worry her nightmare had caused as she followed Emma to the kitchen. Regina noticed Emma made herself at home and knew where to find everything. Frankly, Regina would've just wanted to ask Emma to move in right then, but the nightmare she had just had kept her from saying anything.

"I finally talked to David," Emma told her as she put a plate of leftovers in the microwave, her back turned.

"What did he say?" Regina had a bad feeling about this. If their conversation with Snow was anything to go by, David was hardly a fan of her being in a relationship with Emma. Or her at all for that matter… Not that it would matter to her what David thought, but she didn't want Emma to feel bad.

"As well as it could, I guess? He has his doubts, but he's gonna respect my decision. I guess Snow is gonna be inviting you over for family dinners and stuff now." Emma turned around and gave her a nervous smile.

Family dinners with Snow. Even though she felt like she had had enough of those to last a lifetime, she still didn't mind the idea as much as she had expected. As long as it wouldn't be too common an occurrence, like several times a week. She was happy to be in both Emma and Henry's life like this.

"Regina?" Emma's voice made her realize she hadn't replied anything. "If you wanna come to family stuff, I guess. I mean, I don't wanna assume anything…"

She hadn't meant to make Emma feel uncertain about her feelings. "Yes, of course. Anywhere you are Henry are," she replied and assured Emma with a smile. "Henry said we're making this too complicated," she pointed out as she remembered their previous conversation.

Emma laughed nervously. "Yeah, that's what he said when I explained our situation that morning after you left."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah."

"What did you say to him?"

Emma scrunched her face, and there was a moment of silence. "I guess I just said what I already told you. I told him that adult relationships are complicated and he can't expect everything to work out like in his book."

Regina felt relieved. For a brief moment, she had thought Emma had said something that doomed the future of their relationship. She hated that her nightmare had this effect on her. It made her feel insecure about things she would rather not think about. "Well, I would sure hope so. I wouldn't want everything to go like in the book. It was a biased interpretation of real life events. Not very realistic." She was so full of the book already.

"Yeah, well, it's a book. We both know the real story is much more complicated."

"Indeed." She didn't know what else to say, so she just waited for Emma to speak.

Emma took her food out of the microwave and put it on the counter behind her, but uncharacteristically turned to look at Regina instead of concentrating on her meal. "Okay, Regina, I can see you're not saying everything you're thinking right now. Tell me?"

"I don't know. I guess I just feel like something bad is bound to happen," she confessed. Everything was going too well. "Happy endings aren't for me. Something always happens."

"Okay. I think like that too, I do, but maybe this time will be different. Everything feels so right. We have Henry and there's no new threat in town–"

"Don't– don't say that. Something will happen..."

"And we have each other, which is pretty great as far as I know," Emma continued as if she hadn't heard what Regina had just said.

She took a deep breath. There was a thing she was more uncomfortable saying out loud than anything, because she didn't want to lose Emma, but she felt like she needed to point out something Emma didn't see but deserved to know. Her nightmare had made her think about it again. "I just… I don't deserve you. It's a fact."

Emma's expression fell and she didn't say anything for a while. Regina felt bad about her words already, but she knew she had to say them if she wanted to be a bigger person.

"I'm not something someone deserves," Emma replied after a while, a stern expression on her tired face. "That can't be measured and relationships don't work that way. I can't be compared to some ship or something. It's who makes me feel happy, and seriously? Being with you feels so right… And I don't even agree with you there because you gave me happy memories and you've proven yourself over and over again and you raised Henry. You did so well."

Regina didn't know how to reply. Emma's words made sense, and the comment about Henry almost made her lip quiver, but at the same time, she felt like Emma didn't see the whole picture. "Still, it's just all the things I've done. I never meant to hurt you. But the others, I did mean to hurt them, and I don't understand how you could be with someone like that. You're so pure… You're…"

"You better not say the Savior or the product of True Love or some other crap, because we're supposed to be more than the titles other people gave us. We're Emma and Regina." Emma stopped for a moment, waiting for a response, but continued soon. "Regina, it honestly doesn't matter to me what you've done. I know it matters to David and a bunch of other people, and I get that, but what matters to me is the person you are now." Emma moved closer to her, a tentative smile on her lips. "And yeah, your past is also a part of you and the whole redemption process, and I love all of you and the person you are now and have become: Regina."

Regina realized Emma hadn't noticed her word choice, but was still waiting for an answer. She thought about letting it slide. Maybe Emma had just slipped and hadn't really meant it, or maybe she wasn't ready to say it yet, which meant pointing out the confession would make the other woman feel uncomfortable. Making Emma feel bad was the last thing Regina wanted. She might've wanted it when Emma first came to town; humiliate her and make her disappear, but those days were long gone. Regina had come to love Emma too, after all, and now she knew her feelings were reciprocated.

"Emma?" She decided to be honest, unable to ignore what Emma had just said.

"Yeah?"

"Did you mean that?"

"Mean what?" Emma managed to look both baffled and serious, her eyebrows scrunched together. "I meant everything I said, Regina–"

"You said that you loved me."

Emma's eyes widened, which assured Regina that Emma hadn't meant to blurt the words out like that. She looked like a deer in the headlights, ready to run and regretting her decision to say anything.

Regina felt guilty when she saw Emma's reaction. She had been the one to separate Emma from her family (not directly, but she felt guilty all the same), which had led to her ending up in foster care. Regina didn't have to use much of her imagination to figure out that Emma's previous experiences with opening up and showing her feelings ever since childhood hadn't turned out so well; she hadn't even had much of a permanent home. The woman's dating history wasn't anything to be desired either, all the way from delinquents to flying monkeys and pirates with no change of wardrobe.

She noticed Emma was nervous; she was fidgeting with the sleeve of her sweater and her hair had fallen on her face. Regina took one of Emma's hands in hers and swept a strand of blonde hair behind Emma's ear. She waited for Emma to look at her before she said, "I love you."

The fear in Emma's eyes turned into disbelief, and then eventually into relief and joy. "You really mean that?"

"Yes, I do. I love you," she said, feeling a smile tug at the corners of her lips. "Shouldn't you be able to tell if I'm lying or not?"

"I love you too," Emma said, ignoring the last sentence. She let out a relieved laugh.

"Well, that's wonderful," she replied, which made Emma smile even wider. She brought her face closer to Emma's and brought their lips together in a slow sweet kiss.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this is the last chapter! Exciting.
> 
> It's (partly) rated M, so skip the first half of it if that's not your thing! I hope you enjoy!

Regina woke up before Emma again. It was 6.20 AM and still dark, although she could tell the sun was about to rise. She was tired since they had stayed up later than she had anticipated, making love until they had fallen asleep in a tangle of limbs. She still knew she would have to get up sooner or later; she wanted to get Henry's breakfast done by 7.05 AM so he would make it to school in time, and she had a meeting at 10 AM.

Her quotidian thoughts were interrupted by Emma nuzzling her nose into her neck in her sleep. The closeness of the other woman made her feel safe, and she didn't want to get up, but stay in Emma's arms all day. Being around Emma (and Henry, of course), made Regina feel like she had truly found her home in this world. After their confessions the previous night, it would be hard to go back, and she didn't want to, despite the insecurities her nightmare had brought up. When Emma was holding her like this, she knew she wanted to overcome all the obstacles standing in the way of their happiness.

She eventually decided to turn around so she could see Emma's face, but that turned out to be harder than she had expected; Emma was clinging onto her like a koala. Eventually, she managed to loosen Emma's grip and turn around. She was faced with a beautiful sight of a peaceful sleeping Emma, her blonde locks partly covering her face and her mouth slightly agape. Regina moved her hand carefully so she could move a strand of hair off from Emma's face, but that's when the other woman woke up.

"Regina?" Emma mumbled as she squinted her eyes in the dim light of the room.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you," Regina replied quietly, hoping that Emma would go back to sleep.

"What's the time?" Emma mumbled.

"It's 6.23. Go back to sleep. You have at least 40 minutes left."

"40 minutes?" Emma groaned. "I could sleep for hours!"

"You said you'd be at the station after eight."

Emma groaned. "Well, sleep with me, then. Come here."

The double entendre seemed to be lost on Emma, but Regina moved closer to her under covers, pressing a firm kiss on her lips and bringing her arm around Emma's waist.

"Good morning," Regina said as she broke the kiss.

"Hmm," Emma hummed in appreciation. "Good morning."

"Emma, I was thinking," she started, drawing circles on Emma's lower back with her index finger. She had an idea. "I still have 30 minutes before I need to go downstairs."

Emma opened one eye. "That's not as much time as I'd like, but you may have convinced me."

"Good," she replied and moved to kiss Emma again. Her hand dipped lower, eventually landing on Emma's ass as Emma pulled her closer, her eyes still closed.

She soon realized that Emma was still almost half asleep, so cuddling and chaste kisses – as nice as they were – wouldn't get them anywhere. They'd probably make Emma doze off.

"Emma," she said as she straddled the blonde. "Wake up."

"I'm awake," Emma stated, her eyes flinging open and her hands moving to Regina's hips, gracing her bare skin.

"Do you want this, though?" she asked. Maybe Emma would just rather sleep, or possibly cuddle. She had to ask.

"Yes, please, this is a wonderful way to wake up," Emma replied, her voice still groggy but more alert now. "Come here."

She was pleased with Emma's answer, and she closed the distance between them again, moving down to kiss Emma as her hands were met with Emma's cotton-clad torso. She saw the other woman was wearing her white top from the previous night.

"Why are you even wearing anything? You were naked before we fell asleep."

"Oh. I went to get some water and I didn't wanna end up traumatizing Henry." Emma shrugged, and Regina decided not to mention that Emma was very unlikely to traumatize Henry when she had magic on her side and she could just poof away or summon water next to her bed if she wanted to.

"Well, your top has to go," she retorted instead as she started pulling the shirt off. The white tank was soon discarded on the floor, and Regina started kneading Emma's breasts gently, her thumbs flicking her nipples every few strokes. Emma's soft skin felt warm in her hands, and her whimpers and arching back urged her to continue.

She moved to kiss Emma's neck, nipping at the skin there and sucking lightly at the blonde's pulse point. Her hands never left Emma's breasts as she kissed her way down and took Emma's right nipple in her mouth, sucking it and then blowing cold air on the wet skin. She soon continued teasing Emma by running her tongue over her areola, which elicited more moans from the woman underneath her.

Regina gave attention to each breast, kneading, nipping, and licking, but she eventually realized she had to move forward if she wanted to prepare breakfast on time. Both hands still on Emma's breasts, she moved down to kiss her abdomen as she took notice of Emma's panties that were still covering her sex. She felt Emma's hands over hers, keeping them in place as they urged her on, palming her breasts.

"Regina…" Emma whined as her hips bucked. "Touch me."

"Emma," she replied, raising her gaze from Emma's stomach to look up. "You're still wearing your underwear. Do I look like I can take it off with my teeth? I need my hands."

"I know what your mouth is capable of, to be honest," Emma replied, her breathing erratic. "I'm pretty sure you can."

Regina rolled her eyes as she pulled her hands away from Emma's torso. Emma protested the loss of contact with a small whine, but suppressed any complaints she had when Regina slid Emma's underwear down her legs and threw it on the floor, her gaze fixated on Emma's frustrated face.

She moved and sat down, situating herself between Emma's legs as she took a look at the other woman's sex. She was torn between wanting to tease Emma and wanting to be on time. She started kissing Emma's right knee first, drawing out a frustrated huff from the blonde as she did so. She soon moved her mouth to Emma's inner thigh, placing small kisses on the warm pale skin.

Just as she was about to reach the apex of Emma's thighs, she pulled back and brought her lips to Emma's left knee. Emma didn't sound pleased by the turn of events as she let out another frustrated groan and bucked her hips.

"Regina! That's not where I wanna be kissed, and you know it. Please?"

"So… impatient," she muttered between kisses.

"You'd be too if you were me. We only have, like, 20 minutes. I really really… really need to come."

"You will. Don't underestimate me," she assured as she dipped lower, her head close to Emma's wetness but her lips still on her thigh. She slid her hands down Emma's thighs towards her heat, her thumbs eventually touching Emma's labia majora. Then, she pulled her hands away, receiving another dissatisfied grunt from Emma.

"Regina, come on, I ahhhhh –"

Emma was silenced when Regina swiped her tongue across her slit. She traced her her tongue along Emma's folds and was rewarded with content humming as Emma's hips made a few small thrusts towards her face. She never stopped flicking her tongue, altering between painfully slow and pleasantly fast licks.

She circled Emma's clit with her tongue, causing Emma's hips to jump as she sucked it. She let go soon, though, not wanting to give Emma her release just yet. As she altered between flat and pointed movements of her tongue, she tried to ignore the arousal that was starting to build up between her own legs, deciding it was time to please Emma, not think about her own desires. They had done the whole multiple orgasms thing the previous night, anyway.

She pushed her tongue in, causing Emma's hand to fly into her hair and a gasp escape the blonde's lips. As she kept moving her tongue in and out and licking Emma's folds, she looked up and was met with the sight of Emma's chest heaving and her other hand squeezing her breast. The sight made her double her efforts, her tongue working relentlessly, and eventually the fingers of her right hand joining her tongue.

She brought two fingers to Emma's entrance and slid in while her mouth was still touching Emma's clit. She could feel the slick heat around her fingers as she started to pump and curl them, hoping to find the right spot.

"More," Emma breathed out.

She pulled her fingers out momentarily, causing Emma's hips to buck at the loss of contact, but soon pushed in with three digits and was rewarded with an appreciative moan. As the movement of Emma's hips became less controlled and her moans became louder, Regina sped up the pace of her ministrations, repeating what she had done before and knowing what would bring Emma over the edge.

"Yes, Regina, don't stop –" Emma started, but her utterance turned into a gasp as her hips jerked and her hold of Regina's hair tightened before she let go completely. Regina could feel Emma's inner walls clenching around her fingers, and she relished the feeling, knowing the amount of pleasure the woman she loved was currently experiencing.

As she moved back up to press a kiss on Emma's lips, the blonde was still breathing heavily, her chest heaving and her mouth slightly open. Regina's wet fingers soon tangled in Emma's hair as they deepened the kiss and Emma pulled at her lower lip. She really wanted to continue, but since being a mother really always came first, she shook off the thought of finding her release under Emma's questing tongue.

"I really need to cook breakfast for Henry," she said as she pulled back. "Come downstairs when you're ready. You still have plenty of time. I told you it wouldn't take me _that_ long."

"Ok...ay," Emma replied, still breathless. She sat up with some difficulty as Regina got off the bed. "Wait, what about you, though? Give me a few minutes and…"

She couldn't help smiling at Emma. She pressed one more kiss on the lips of the woman that sometimes resembled a puppy. "We will do that later. Very soon if I have any choice on the matter," she smirked at Emma as she broke the kiss, wanting to make sure that Emma knew she was more than wanted.

"Great. I'll... hold on to that," Emma replied as a tentative smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

Regina smirked as she put on her black silky robe and left the room.

* * *

After 15 minutes, ten of which she had spent in the shower, Emma was descending the stairs in her jeans and a different top. She tried to conjure up her best poker face as she entered the kitchen. She would most definitely look like the idiot in love she was.

"Morning, Ma," Henry greeted her with a grin as she looked at him. The kid was awfully smug.

"Morning, kid," she replied and sat down.

She took a look at the table. Regina had somehow managed to cook up an amazing breakfast while Emma had been in the shower. For a moment, Emma thought she might've used magic, but then she remembered Regina was just that efficient.

"Good morning, dear," Regina said casually as she sat down, too. "Did you sleep well?"

Emma fought the urge to roll her eyes. As if Regina didn't know. "Great."

"Glad to hear that," Regina replied flashed her a mischievous smile.

"Uh huh," Emma muttered and tried to keep her amusement to a minimum as she poured coffee in the cup in front of her.

The breakfast went on normally and Emma felt really comfortable just conversing with the two people she felt most at ease with. Eventually, they ended up talking about Emma's apartment hunt since Regina had seen something new that looked promising. Emma had just said they should take a look when Henry disagreed.

"Why not just move in with us? You practically live here anyway," he queried, scrunching his brow.

Emma almost chocked on her coffee. She was just about to reply that she most certainly did not live there when she realized that she had spent the night there again and would most likely come back the following night; not to mention that Henry and Regina's company made her feel more at home than anything else.

Old habits still died hard, and she didn't want to assume too much. "Well, kid, I don't wanna intrude. I'm sure you and your mom want some time for just the two of you, too." She felt like she would eventually be in the way, and she didn't want to make Regina grow tired of her. Even though logic told her she wouldn't, her first instinct was to be careful when letting people close.

"Don't you two love each other?" Henry asked.

"Yes, Henry," Regina answered sternly before Emma could. "I will talk about this later with Emma."

Emma watched Henry nod and Regina keep her expression nonchalant as they finished breakfast. She felt nervous. What was Regina going to say? She fought against shifting around on her seat and leaving as she finished her coffee and bear claw Regina had gotten for her.

"So, Emma," Regina started after Henry had gone upstairs to get ready for school and they were cleaning the kitchen before going to work. "It seems to me that you still feel like you're in the way."

Emma felt a sudden need to go to work early, but she managed to stand still and almost take a look at Regina who turned to face her.

"I would like to let you know, again, that I love you very much. I would be more than happy if you moved in with me, but I don't want to push you," Regina said calmly as she took Emma's hand in hers. "Frankly, I'm afraid something bad will happen and you will be taken away from me, just like most people in my life have been, but if you'd actually like to live here with Henry and me instead of finding an apartment of your own, you'd make me the happiest woman in Storybrooke. I wasn't sure when I was supposed to ask because you seemed to want to find your own place so much…"

"That's why you didn't ask?" Not that she had expected Regina to ask in the first place, but she couldn't believe she had actually thought about this so much. Regina really seemed to want her there, and she just wasn't used to something like that.

"Yes, I would say so. And I never truly understood the living arrangements the couples in this realm have, so I really didn't know what you were expecting. I was married off to the King straight away after his proposal – which I hadn't even accepted myself – so there isn't much I know about asking someone to live with me," Regina continued, her thumb drawing circles on Emma's hand.

Regina's confession made Emma feel sudden anger towards her grandfather and everyone who had tried to manipulate Regina for their own purposes instead of treating her like a person. So much pain and loss could've been avoided. "I'm sorry, that's so unfair… That makes me so angry, I'm…"

"Emma, please. Don't. Please don't concentrate on that. It happened. We're here. Can we talk about the present now?"

"Yeah, sorry, go ahead," she replied, trying to concentrate on the current matter at hand. If Regina could let the past go, she would try, too.

"So, as I was saying, I would love for you to move in with me and Henry. He would love it too. I actually wanted to ask you sooner, when we were looking for apartments for the first time. If I had know it was what you wanted, I would've."

Regina's answer made her knees weak. She was afraid of wanting to be with Regina this much, but all the same, her head was spinning because of all the feelings she had for the woman who somehow loved her back.

"You… really want me to move in? Are you sure? What if you're gonna change your mind?" she asked once more, unable to help herself.

"Yes, Emma, I'm sure. I'm not going to change my mind. You know I wouldn't ask if I didn't want this. My politeness only goes so far." Regina rolled her eyes after her last comment, but otherwise she looked like she was very serious.

"Okay…" she finally replied. She felt both scared and relieved. "I will move in. If you want me to."

Regina smiled at her. "Of course I want you to. I love you, and I will want to have you in my life forever, if you so wish."

Emma couldn't help it: she could feel a huge grin breaking over her face. Regina was being so sincere. Emma was so glad her superpower existed at times like these, because her first instinct would've been not to trust anyone to feel this way about her.

"I love you too, and I wanna move in," she replied, feeling a blush starting to cover her cheeks. So much for not looking like an idiot in love.

She felt Regina's hand leave hers and move to cup her face and pull her into a sweet slow kiss. When she was held like this, her fears always subsided and inexplainable happiness and sense of safety overtook her. Regina made her feel like home.

"Ahem," sounded a voice by the kitchen door. As they broke apart, Emma could see Henry with the biggest shit-eating grin on his face.

"Hi, kid," Emma said breathlessly, her hand on Regina's hip. "I'm moving in, apparently." She took another look at Regina to make sure she was still happy with the idea. If the brunette's beaming expression was anything to go by, she was overjoyed.

"About time!" Henry snorted. "I'm off to school. Don't forget to go to work."

"Of course we'll remember to go to work. Have a good day at school," Regina said.

"See you at dinner, kid."

Henry waved his hand and flung his backpack over his shoulder as he left the room. Emma smiled as she turned back to Regina, her hand still on the other woman's waist.

"So, we should probably listen to the kid and go to work," she started, trying to keep her tone serious even though she wasn't feeling serious at all. "The Mayor is a strict woman... I would hate it if she had to punish me for being late."

"I'm sure the Mayor would be okay if you were late since she doesn't have to be at work for another hour, Sheriff Swan," Regina retorted as she moved closer, her warm breath ghosting on Emma's face. "After all, it is of extreme importance that the Sheriff keep the Mayor happy."

"My... My Majesty, that sounds kinda unprofessional," she said before she could stop herself. She had originally planned to say Madam Mayor, but her mouth had other plans.

" _My Majesty?_ Really, Emma?" Regina raised her brow.

"My apologies, Madam Mayor," she said without sounding sorry at all.

She decided apologize again by kissing her. Regina didn't seem to be too angry since she responded to the kiss with enthusiasm, pulling Emma closer and wrapping her arms around her neck.

"Are you, though?" Emma asked between kisses.

"Am I what?" Regina asked. She had stopped kissing Emma, and brown eyes were searching hers.

"Happy?" She tried to sound casual, but the word held so much meaning to her. She loved Regina so much and wanted her to be happy. She could never be happy if Regina wasn't. Regina had fought so hard.

Regina chuckled before she pressed her lips on Emma's. "Very."

"Me too," she breathed out before pulling Regina closer and smiling into the kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I actually finished this story... I would like to thank everyone who has commented or otherwise shown their support, thank you so much! I wouldn't have managed to finish this story without my lovely readers. You made writing my first (multichapter!) fic, and the longest story I've written so far, a great experience. Thank you! (Also, I'm super sorry for any grammar/other mistakes.)
> 
> You can find my other stories on my page (my Swan Queen Week stories had an American beta this summer, so that's pretty neat)! I'm queenssaviour on tumblr and queenssavLour on twitter in case anyone's interested. (Come say hi!)
> 
> Thank you for reading (please let me know if you liked the ending)!


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